I'm Honest
by JulySam
Summary: During a battle with a fortune teller, Zuko and Katara are cursed into complete honesty. Now the two must stick together to find a cure while discovering every ounce truth from each other. Zutara. COMPLETE
1. Fortunes

Hey, everyone. Thanks so much for visiting my story. This is my first-ever, so please enjoy. Criticism is accepted, in fact-- nearly asked for. I'll take all into consideration to make this as best as it can possibly account to. (:

Chapter One: Fortunes

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It was a bright, sun-dipped morning. It was early, so the pinks and pastel oranges and yellows were still being lightly brushed into the sky. The rushing creek was soft and stirring and there were few birds awake and chirping happily.

Zuko, as usual, was the first to rise. He felt comfort in waking up along with the sun, even if it meant he'd be awake alone for the first few hours. Even on Sokka's tight schedule, sometimes this early in the morning was _too _early. It was alright with Zuko, though. He never expected anyone else to join him, and he certainly didn't mind spending time alone to think. Alone was his favorite time of day.

Zuko grunted as he stretched silently then quickly sprouted up. He drifted past Aang and Sokka and Appa and Momo. Toph, who when he first became a part of the group, always woke up alert each time he passed her, but now she was used to Zuko walking around this early in the morning. The way she thought of it now was, if she didn't hear him up and about this early, then something must be wrong. But sticking to tradition, he walked past her, and she ignored the vibrations of his light footsteps.

Zuko cautiously dipped his feet into the cool water of the creek. He watched fish obsessively swim away from him, and although hungry, didn't bother with them. Something felt different to him this morning.

Something felt wrong.

There was a crack behind the bushes. Leaves brushed together and Zuko stood up vigilantly. He prepared himself for battle and took a few steps back towards the rest of the sleeping group in protection mode. He was fairly surprised Toph hadn't noticed or risen yet, but if there was a battle about to break out, he didn't have time to think about where Toph was or what she should be doing.

A clumsy Katara with a flushed face fell out of the bushes. She quickly scrambled to her feet and regained composure, hoping her face wasn't too red. Zuko disarmed himself with a confused look on his face.

"Sorry!" She tripped again, making her way through the shallow creek over to Zuko. Zuko waited there quietly and watched her come closer and closer towards him. "Sorry," she repeated, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It looks more like I startled you," Zuko replied suspiciously.

"So, what are you doing up this early?" She ignored his statement, brushing the dirt off her skirt.

"I always get up this early, Katara. Besides, I should be the one asking the questions here, not you." He reported. She looked away as if she were hiding something. "What have you been up to, Katara?" He asked in demand. She grumbled a little, as if she were trying not to give a secret away. Zuko huffed. "Katara," he began impatiently.

"I found this town." She began quickly, as if she were impatient with her own mouths inability to keep up with the pace of her thoughts. He raised his eyebrows. "It's beautiful. And gigantic. Last night when we stopped to look at the local map to see where the best campsite would be, I saw it. I was interested. I tried getting Sokka to come, but he just started complaining and told me not to bother trying to ruin his timing schedule. So I woke up early to go see how far away the town is from here; its only about a fifteen minute walk." She informed him. "Its so interesting and exciting. Everyone there is so friendly and there wasn't a fire bender in sight! No offense though because not all fire benders are bad--" she ranted. Zuko put his hand out motioning her to stop.

"Lets go!" Zuko looked back at the others sleeping. "Please?" Katara pressed on. "Its amazing! Everything imaginable is there! You'll love it!"

"I don't love anything. And I don't think this is a good idea, at least not without the others. Lets just wait until they wake up."

"But they'll be sleeping for another three or four hours! Well miss all the good parts of the town in the morning. All the best fruits and fish, all the hustle and bustle-"

"And you like hundreds of random people pushing you and shoving you and trying to out-bet you for a lousy piece of fish?" Zuko asked, curtailing her dreamy explanation.

Katara shrugged. "Usually, no. But for some reason today, well, something just feels right."

_'Not exactly what I was thinking._' He crossed his arms and took one last glace at the group. "Fine," Kataras face lit up with a smile, "but only for a little while."

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"You know, this'll be fun; just you and I spending some quality time together," Katara sighed. "Right Zuko? Zuko?" Katara stopped and turned around. "Zuko?"

"What?" She spun around again. "Why are we stopping?"

"How did you get in front of me? And were you even listening to me?"

"I walked. And no." Zuko began walking again, and Katara quickly followed after, trying to catch up, but never seeming to be able to.

Soon enough the two came to a big wooden gate leading into the market. There were rows of stands that went straight to the docks and the harbor. Katara's eyes lit up seeing all the people and merchants and trinkets and exotic foods.

"Where to first?" Katara asked happily. She didn't bother for a response, which is good because Zuko wasn't going to give her one, but just kept walking down an aisle of shops and stands. Zuko reluctantly followed. He silently watched from two feet behind as Katara boggled at every necklace and bracelet, and sampled each kind of fruit she could find. Each time someone passed Zuko and bumped his shoulder or his back, he had to retain from spinning around and giving that unlucky jerk a piece of his mind. But he figured it would only look bad on his behalf, as if bumping and shoving were a term of endearment here. In the Fire Nation if someone bumped into another person, there was a big possiblity a riot would break out.

"Do you want some?" Katara offered after taking a sip of sweet tea. Zuko curiously took a small drink, only to spit it out right in front of the old tea maker. He didn't look too pleased to see his livelihood be spat into the dirt. Katara snatched the cup back and gave it back to the old man. She softly apologized and thanked him for the free taste. She tightly pulled Zuko's arm away.

"What is wrong with you?" She muttered through her gritted teeth.

"It was terrible! I wasnt going to swallow it!"

"I know that! But the polite thing would be to have pretended to like it like I did! I thought a Prince would know that." She replied sharply. Zuko snatched his arm free of her grip.

"No, a Prince would realize the finer things in life are never found in a poor peasants marketplace."

"Why did you even come if that's the way you feel?"

"You asked me to come with you. _That's _being polite."

"No, that's being dishonest." Katara retorted. She glared at him, and he glared back.

"You lied to that man and told him his tea was good," Zuko confirmed. Katara scoffed. "You were just as dishonest as I was."

"I didn't tell him I liked it, but I certainly didn't tell him the tea was bad, either. I said nothing but thank you to him."

"But you hated the tea and actions speak louder than words, Ms. Goody Two Shoes." He said coolly. He stopped walking and crossed his arms gruffly. She stopped walking as well and stared at the Prince angrily.

"This isn't about the tea! You're always so kind and generous and polite with the others around, and yet here, with me, alone, you're not! You're bitter."

"Just like that tea," he spat. She glowered at him. "I need my alone time with the sun in the mornings. You've disturbed that."

She snorted. "Sorry!" She replied sarcastically. "Then go back! Go back to the camp site and sit by the creek and watch the water or the sun or whatever it is that you do that I've disrupted and wait until the others wake up. If you're going to be like this, then go away."

"Gladly." Zuko turned his back to her and walked away.

Zuko shoved through the crowds. _'Why did I do that?'_ he asked himself. _'Shes right; normally, I would've just told the man I liked his tea, even if it did taste terrible.'_ He sighed. And looked forward. The next shop to pass was the tea shop.

"Hey," Zuko called for attention. The old man stopped dipping cups into the barrel of tea. He rudely frowned at Zuko then ignored him. "I'm sorry for spitting your tea out in front of you- or at all. It wasn't that bad." He attempted an apology while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"You have insulted my entire family. We have made this tea for three generations." He replied with a husky voice.

"Again, sorry."

"Me too." A soft voice came from behind Zuko. He turned around to find Katara standing there. "You were right. About me and the whole dishonest thing." He shrugged in a 'that's okay, Katara' way.

He turned away from her, hesitated, then turned back. "Do I-"

"Have to go back to camp?" She finished his question. She smiled. "Not if you dont want to." Zuko smiled sweetly back. "C'mon." She pulled his wrist and they began walked together.

The more shops they passed, the higher the sun got in the sky and the better Zuko's mood was. He began tasting some tropical fruits, he was patient when Katara stopped to gaze at necklaces and water bending scrolls, but he reminded himself not to try any more drinks...especially teas. Katara did the same. But each time someone rudely bumped into Zuko, he still had half a mind to turn around and yell at them. The thought of chaos ensuing in the Fire Nation for something as little as a shoulder bump took the edge off of Zuko's frustration, but not enough.

"Hey, look at that." Zuko pointed to a small building. I was a small distance from the rest of the shops and that's why it stood out. It was painted a dark reddish brown color and had vines of ivy dancing up onto the roof. "What do you think that is?"

"It looks like a fortune tellers home. I've been to one. She was excellent."

"Fortune teller?" Zuko chuckled in an insulting way. "You don't seriously believe all that mumbo jumbo, do you?" She shrugged.

"Let's go inside, its fun to at least try." She pried.

"I dont know about this. My uncle said fortune tellers can just be after money or personal enjoyment from others unpleasantness."

"Too bad." Finally, by force, she got Zuko through the door. A small old lady was drinking some tea. She was dressed in silky, colorful robes with some sort of bright yellow and purple flower on them. She had bright red lips and deep laugh lines. Her fingers were crowded with rings and her neck with bronze charms. There were two empty pillows in front of the tea table. As if she were expecting company.

"Hello, there." Katara said in a fakely nice voice. "I'm Katara, this is Zuko." She pointed to the angst-filled black haired boy leaning against the door as if he were signaling to Katara that he wants to leave. She ignored that ever so obvious signal.

"Sit down, my dears." Her old lady voice was soft, but also crinkly as if she had something stuck in her throat. "Tea? It's the finest of the land," she reported proudly. Katara nodded kindly. Zuko rolled his eyes._ 'Does she not realize weve already learned our lesson on honesty and tea today?'_ He remarked to himself. "Young man?" He popped out of his thoughts. "Tea?" He shook his head.

"This tea is amazing!" Katara gulped the tea down.

"Suck up," Zuko whispered to her. She jabbed him in the gut and he let out a grunt. The old woman smiled, pretending she hadn't heard his whispers.

"So," Katara began nonchalantly, "are you open for business this early in the morning?"

The old woman laughed. "It's never too early for a fortune!" Katara laughed weakly and politely. Zuko loudly coughed at her fake politeness. She jabbed him in the gut again. He didn't bother grunting. He just gave her a cross look.

"So which one of you would like to go first?" The woman asked. Katara raised her hand with a grin on her face. The old woman nodded and slowly stood up.

"I'll go set up. You wait here and I'll call you in." She instructed before she turned down a hall and left Zuko and Katara in the main room alone.

"Great, now's our chance to leave." Zuko said in a hushed voice.

"Zuko, it's fine. Shes a kind old woman who reads oracle bones."

"Oracle bones are dangerous and do not talk about her as if she were your best friend. You have no idea if she's friendly and kind or not." He protested.

"It's fine," she assured. "And oracle bones aren't dangerous."

"No it's not and yes they are. Something feels wrong." He didnt sound so assured.

"Too bad," she replied quietly.

"Fine. I'm going in with you, though."

"I don't think she'll allow it." Katara replied.

"But she's so kind, how could she say no?" Zuko said sarcastically. Katara gave him an annoyed expression. She hated when people twisted her words around into something different. "I'm doing you a favor."

"Oh, thanks." She returned the sarcasm.

"You may come back now." The old woman said loudly from around the corner. Katara and Zuko both stood up. Katara tried pushing the Prince down and away, but he didn't budge. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the hall.

"This is what you wanted," he whispered. He reached the doorway where the old woman was standing.

"Oh, one at a time, please." She said with a smile.

Zuko ignored her. "After the ladies, of course." Katara led him in with one last evil glare. Somehow, Zuko seemed satisfied and pleased with this. The old woman, realizing Zuko was going to be in the fortune telling room whether she wanted him to be or not, gave up and walked in. Zuko shut the door behind them.

The room was dark and there were three or four candles around a small, ashy bowl. There were a few bones in a smaller dish to the right of where the old woman sat down. The room smelled like spices and dust and Katara sat down across from the fortune teller with a feeling of claustrophobia. Zuko sat closely behind Katara. Normally she would've felt uncomfortable with this, but for some reason she didn't mind. It felt warm and protective. She was comfortable.

"So, do you know how oracle bone reading goes?" She asked the two teens. Katara nodded eagerly. Zuko did nothing and showed no emotion. But on the inside he was sensing a dark curiosity coming from the old woman. She stared back into Zuko's eyes for a few moments, trying to also show no emotion. Finally, she looked away. But Zuko kept his focus on her.

"Lets start, then." She routinely scratched two small incense-like sticks together until a fire started. Zuko scoffed at the mediocrity of the flame. Katara once again jabbed him, but the shock and pain wore off of Zuko. He would've been more surprised if she hadn't jabbed him. Transitionally the old lady added more small twigs until the fire was big enough for her likings. She sighed and placed a bone into the fire. The three watched as the bone cracked under the pressure of the fires heat. The old lady would gasp or pretend to be drawn aback while each crack formed.

"Good acting." Zuko ironically applauded her. The old woman didn't seem to hear her. Katara gave up on elbow jabs.

"Love is in the air, hmm?" The fortune teller started, as if she were asking Katara her own fortune.

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. A lot of love! And success!"

"And riches! And joy!" Zuko added with fake excitement. The old woman heard him this time.

"Young man, I'd like you to leave."

"Old woman, I'd like you to admit you have no idea what you're doing." He growled.

"Zuko!" Katara scolded. He leapt off the floor and grabbed Katara's arm and pulled her up too. "What are you doing?"

"This is a hoax. We're leaving." He pulled her towards the door. There was a flash and a swoosh. Before Zuko could even take a step towards the door the old woman was already blocking the way out.

"No you're not." She tested.

"Love? Success? She's telling you what everyone dreams of. That's not a fortune, that's a rip off." He told Katara, getting into fighting position. Katara, without a second thought, did the same. "What now? Do you want us to pay you or you won't let us leave?" He asked the old lady.

"She has love and success, you have toil and sadness. You are a very bitter young man and you are ungrateful and dishonorable! I knew you'd be trouble the instant you walked into my home."

"Oh, see. You didn't need a silly bone to tell you that, did you?" He punched a whip of fire at her. She put her hands up and in an instant, almost like magic, the fire was evaporated into the air. The smoke ventilated into the ceiling quickly.

"You're in my element, now."

"Who are you?" Katara demanded.

The old woman chuckled. "My name is Paymon. I am a fortune teller. A gypsy. And you're lucky I do not curse you for accusing me of a con artist."

Zuko and Katara backed up. Zuko protectively stood in Katara's path.

"I think maybe your uncle was right about them loving others misfortune." Katara whispered.

"I've learned he usually _is _right," Zuko whispered back.

"Now's no time for smugness, Zuko!" She disapproved.

"Trust me, I wasn't being smug."

"Quiet!" Paymon ordered. Zuko and Katara returned to combat position. "Fighting isn't worth it. I shall curse you for your own good!"

"How can cursing us be for our own well-being?" Zuko asked Katara rhetorically.

"It'll teach you a lesson about honesty!" She yelled.

"We've learned enough honesty lessons for one day, and it's only about seven in the morning." Katara said into Zuko's ear. He nodded in reply, not really listening to what she had said.

The old woman Paymon began rambling in another language. She threw her hands up and down and spun around twice. She pointed at Zuko and Katara as she finished her curse and they both fell to the ground as if their legs were paralyzed.

"This room shall be a lonely asylum for the two of you. Learn to be honest with each other or you'll be trapped in here forever!" She screamed. "Now sleep!" Katara and Zuko's eyes fell instantly and they swung into exhaustion.

The last thing Katara heard was a faint laughter.

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Well, there you have it, the first chapter!

I hope you enjoyed!

Please review! (:

**Paymon means demon(:


	2. Tea with a Prince

Hey you guys, thank you so much for reviewing! They're all much appreciated! None has gone unread and I am very thankful and inspired by you guys to write this next chapter! So thanks a special, big, great thank you to these few: **wolf's lament**, **Kaydreams**, **kgfghgdjk**, **sokkantylee**, **Miss Katara x**, **MusicIsLove92**, **dancingqueensillystring**, **kkckat3 **and **OMG UPDATE SOON**. :D You were my first reviewers and I'll dedicate this next chapter to you. I can only hope for nine that I do it justice. (:

And yes I did just totally geek out (get used to it folks) (:

Anyway, without further ado,

Chapter Two: Tea with a Prince

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Zuko woke up with a throbbing pain from where his head hit the floor. His neck felt stiff and his head was cloudy. He felt delirious as he attempted to sit up. He groaned repeatedly, rubbing the back of his head.

He looked around the dark room. Through blurred vision, he saw flickers of candles. The air was hot and thick and tasted damp in his dry mouth. He blinked a few times before his vision came clear and into focus.

"Where am I?" He mumbled, looking around. He groaned again. Movement only made his headache worse. He shifted his numbing ankle and accidentally bumped something. He watched what he had bumped for a few moments before realizing it was Katara's shin.

"Katara, Katara." He choked. He slowly turned his whole body to her direction, afraid that if he moved just his neck, it might hurt his head again.

Katara's back was towards Zuko. She was huddled in a ball. He softly shook her arm until he head a slight grunt come from her.

"Katara, wake up. Where are we?"

"Um, a very dark room?" She stuttered back. Zuko, beginning to clear his head and regain composure, rolled his eyes at her response. She seemed to be breaking into that dazed feeling Zuko had just managed to escape from. "What happened?" She whined, rubbing her head and slowly sitting up.

"I don't remember."

"I know, me neither. After that psycho fortune teller cursed-- oh yeah. Maybe I do remember."

"We need to get out of here," Zuko said, jumping up. Slowly after the room began spinning again and Zuko fell back down. "Later." he added, lying back. Katara shook her head in dismay.

"We cant wait any longer, soon the gang will wake up and wonder where we went," Katara replied. Her eyes widened. "Wait, what did you say the time was?"

"I didnt," Zuko groaned in reply. He shut his eyes and sprawled out of far as he could. "And I still don't even know where we are." Katara scoffed and stood up. Just like what happened to Zuko, the room began spinning again causing her to fall back. "Lets take my 'later' advice."

"Let's not," Katara responded. "We need to get out of here, Zuko."

"Don't bother," a strange, crinkly voice came from behind the two teens. Katara whipped around as fast as she could, and her head was sucked into another one-moment-daze. The old oracle bone reading woman was back with her same gaudy lipstick color and thick bronze jewelry. There was a small tea table and two pillows surrounding it. But she was standing. The tea wasn't for her.

"Don't bother?" Katara repeated.

"You cannot leave. I won't allow it." Now she had Zuko sitting up. In his cake-y mind, there were three of her, and three Katara's, too. He tried holding back a groan as he slumped over and put his head on his knees. He shook his head a little then sat back up. Now there were five.

"Why can't we leave? He asked gruffly. "Actually, you can't stop us. We're benders. You're old and outnumbered." He smudged over his last statement to make it sound more harsh. Katara figured that when it came to enemies and predators, each statement was to be made harsh. She figured that was 'the way of the Fire Nation' whether you were banished or a traitor or not.

"I told you before: you're in my element now." He rolled his eyes.

"Convincing." He stated cynically. Katara shot him a nasty look. He shot it back. "As if kissing up will help us as this point!" She remained glaring. "Leave me alone," he added. "Bitch," he muttered to his lap.

"What did you just call me?" She asked competitively.

"I said sucking up doesn't work, leave me alone, and you're a bitch," he said matter-of-factly. After realizing what he had said, his eyes grew wide. "Did I say that out loud?" Katara nodded slowly in a 'duh' fashion.

"Why?" He questioned himself more than Katara.

"Don't worry, I'm not too surprised. It's not really out of the ordinary for you to be rude," she replied, still holding some upset feelings.

"I wouldn't ordinarily say that out loud!" He protested. "I'd think it, but I wouldn't say it." His eyes widened again. He looked at the old woman who was looking quite pleased. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"You're just being," she paused with enough time for one last devilish smile, "honest."

Katara's neck stiffened. She remembered. '_We were hit with some sort of honesty curse. The fortune teller-- P-Paymon, was it?-- cursed us into telling nothing less than the complete truth!'_

"Fix this!" Katara turned back towards the fortune teller. But she was no where to be found. Katara cautiously stood up and edged around the room, searching for where she could've gone. She turned to Zuko. "Where'd she go?" Zuko was standing on the other side of the room, pacing back and forth. Clearly he still hadn't caught on to what Katara already remembered and understood. "Zuko?" She peeped. He still wasn't listening. Katara watched him closely for a few moments.

"You look kinda hot when you wear your hair like that." She expressed dreamily. She felt her throat tighten and cheeks get hot with embarrassment. Had she really just said that out loud? She looked away but then quickly back to the Prince. He showed no unusual movement in his pacing patterns. "He didn't hear," she exhaled in relief.

"Yes I did." He replied, not looking up from his pacing feet. "But I already knew I was fabulous-- that's it!"

"You're fabulous?"

"Yes! But that's not what I'm talking about! She cursed us to blurt out the truth at any random time!"

He caught on.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Really?" She played along as if this were news to her. Zuko nodded his head triumphantly. "I already knew that," she said snottily, as if she were rubbing it in his face. '_Okay, I definitely wouldn't have said that if I weren't cursed with honesty,' _she admitted to herself. Zuko looked a little disappointed, as if figuring it out were a competition he had just lost. For some reason, it made Katara think of Sokka and Azula. They both had a sibling that was...competitive.

"Cheer up! Just because I'm smarter than you," she said truthfully, "doesn't mean you're not a better bender than I am!" Her face turned sour. She slapped her forehead and grunted.

"You think I'm a better bender?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." What she really wanted to say was, 'Don't make me admit it again!', but luckily she still had control of her thoughts.

He snorted. "As if that's hard, water bending is a _lame _bending skill." He chuckled to himself as if he hadn't heard a joke in years.

"Watch it, or I'll demonstrate to you the ancient art of Zuko-bending," she threatened.

"You wouldn't hurt me," he smiled slyly, "or my 'hot hair'" he mocked. Katara gaped and crossed her arms defensively. Zuko strutted over and shook his shiny hair in her face then flipped it back. It landed in a perfect shape that any girl would've gushed over. Katara almost had to stop herself from doing so.

"You're a real jerk. If this is how you _truthfully_ act, I liked you better when you were a liar."

"What?" He asked, as if he hadn't a clue what she meant, "I'm trying to impress..." he drifted off and turned away "...you." he cleared his throat in embarrassment. Katara tried hard not to blush, but wasn't sure how well she was doing at that. '_I guess just because Paymon made our mouths speak truth, doesn't mean our personalities do'. _Katara dropped the subject so she wouldn't make things awkward between her and Zuko. If they were locked in the room alone, for who knows how long, it'd be best if it weren't weird and there was no tension.

"I'm sorry."

Zuko seemed to have the same idea of breaking the ice of awkwardness, but his ideas of that were slightly different than hers. She nodded.

"It's fine, I suppose." She choked back in a whisper. "Um, would you like some tea?" She offered kindly, motioning him towards the tea table. She gracefully sat down and poured herself a cup of it. "It really is much better than that old merchants tea."

Zuko walked over and sat down. "I'm not sure how it's possible to be worse," he smiled at her. She giggled. Their eyes locked and their gaze didnt seem to break quickly. In some ways, Katara liked that. She looked back to the tea kettle.

"Tea?" She offered again.

"That'd be great," he said sweetly.

And as they both clinked each others cups together in a cheers, they both made a subconscience pact to one another to start over. The smug, smarmy, wish-washy honesty they had both just played never happened. From this point on, their tongues, along with their demeanors and thoughts, would be nothing less than the truth.

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Hey you guys, sorry this isn't a very long chapter or a very good one. Well, I hope it is, I'm not sure. I can tell you I wrote three copies of a chapter two and this certainly was the best out of the three!

Please review and...maybe I'll just update a littler sooner next time, heh?


	3. Red and Blue

Hey, ya'll. Thank you all a lot, a lot, A LOT for reading my past two chapters and, for those of you who reviewed, thanks so much for taking the time to review. Yeah, it only takes two or three seconds to do but thanks for taking those short moments to do so anyway. (: A one-worded review makes my day. Aha...I'm lame.

Onward with the chapter!

Chapter Three: Red and Blue

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"Hey, this tea is pretty good," Zuko sounded surprised with himself as he stared at the tea cup wide-eyed then took another gulp.

"Told you," Katara replied. She jokingly stuck her nose in the air like a snob and stuck her pinkie out as she delicately sipped the tea. Zuko chuckled. "What?" She asked. "Isn't this how a Prince drinks?" She asked smoothly.

"Only royalty who think they're better than everyone else and perfect in every way possible," he snorted in reply. Katara was actually a bit shocked and interested at this response. "Like my sister," he grinned.

She giggled then got back into her snobby alter-ego. "A humble Prince? I've never heard of such a thing!" She gasped with a tacky fake "fancy accent". She was really getting into the royal-type of acting. Zuko rolled his eyes with a slight smile.

"I'm no different than you."

"A humble Prince?" She repeated. She paused and smiled before she began again, "I actually like that trait in you."

Zuko looked past the compliment. "What traits _don't _you like?" He cocked his head. "Be _honest_." As if she had a choice.

She cleared her throat. "Come again?" She didnt want to answer.

"Come off it," he retorted. "We'll be stuck in here until God knows when. What else are we supposed to do?"

__

'Anything but a question game.'

Katara thought to herself, looking at her lap. "Fine."

"So what traits don't you like about me?" He tried again.

"Well, you're a jerk." She deadpanned. Zuko pouted and looked away as if he didn't understand. "_Sometimes _you're humble, most of the time you walk around like you're better and smarter and more experienced than everyone else."

He scoffed. "I'm older than everyone else in the group, I _am_ more experienced." He protested.

"Aang's one hundred and twelve years old!" She exclaimed.

"Yes but he's been in a frozen block for one hundred of those years!"

There was a slight silenced moment or two. '_Alright, it'd be best not for anything to get testy between her and I.' _Zuko told himself calmly.

"Anything else?" Zuko asked quietly in a monotone.

Katara wished he hadn't asked that. '_Great, now I have to answer...honestly!' "_You're always so...tense. Zuko, you need to let some things in your past go and-"

"Please stop," he curtailed. She nodded slowly in response.

Once again, there was a longer, quieter more awkward moment of silence between the two. Zuko silently drank the last of his tea.

"Mhmm...favorite color?" Katara piped up, changing the subject.

"Red? I dont know?" Zuko said in the tone of more of a question than an answer. He laid back onto the floor. He put his arms behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm not sure I have one," he sighed. "What's yours? Oh wait, let me guess: blue."

She let out a soft chuckle that she doubt Zuko could hear. "No, see unlike you I wouldn't pick blue just because its my Nation's color." She heard Zuko let out a small scoff and could picture him rolling his eyes. "It changes." She finally answered. Zuko sat up, seeming intrigued by her answer. Katara couldn't imagine why that would interest him, though.

"How so?"

She shrugged. "Why pick one color to dictate the rest? There should be a color for each mood I'm in. If I'm sad, I'd probably pick a darker color. If I'm happy, I'd probably pick yellow or something like that."

"So what's you're favorite color at this very exact moment?"

She looked away, flushing a little. "Red," she responded honestly.

"Oh," Zuko murmured.

"Yeah," she drifted. "So," she began, attempting to change the subject away from colors, "hows living in the Fire Nation?"

"Tense? Toiling? Bleak? Hard to keep up with? Any of those answers please you?"

She shook her head with a small smile. "Even as a Prince it's not fun?"

"It was at one point," he replied, laying back down.

"Meaning?" She pressed.

"It was fun when I was younger," he explained. "I had a family to have fun with back then. Now my mother's God knows where, my sister is just a little prodigy war-monster, and my dad--" he stopped.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now," he said.

Katara pursed her lips. She hadn't meant to strike a nerve, just a conversation.

"I'm sorry, Zuko."

"It's fine," he replied quickly, insinuating it wasn't actually fine. At least, that's what she pulled from it. She shook her head vigorously, even though she knew he couldn't see her doing it. She sat up onto her knees and reached over the small tea table and gently put her hand on his knee.

"I'm serious, Zuko," she said, "I'm sorry." He could tell she wasn't apologizing for pushing him to speak. She was apologizing for something she had no idea about and no buisness apologizing for. Once again, he sat up and crossed his legs. Katara launched back into her position before she had knelt. She watched Zuko pour himself some more tea and then realized she was watching him and holding her breath. She let out a deep exhaled breath as Zuko looked up at her.

"Want some?" he offered. She nodded and held her cup up. It was nearly half full. He poured her some more tea anyway. In a sense, she wasn't surprised he didn't say anything about her apology, although she was hoping he would.

He gulped his tea down. "So how was the South Pole?"

"You tell me, you were there for a few days, too," she smiled, reminiscing on their first meet.

He groaned. "Cold!"

She laughed. "It's not that bad!" She defended.

"It is when you've lived your entire life on a volcano." He chuckled. She laughed too.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that part," she smiled up at him. He smiled, too. She looked down and frowned. "Do you miss your homeland?" Zuko frowned too.

"Not anymore." He looked away sourly. "But I don't want to talk about that either."

"Right, sorry," Katara apologized. '_Way to go, Katara! He had already said he didnt want to talk about his father, why bring up the Fire Nation and his old life, too?'_

"It's fine." He drank some more tea, then reached for the tea pot. He shook it lightly. "We're out."

She sighed. "When do you think that crazy old lady will be back?"

"Hopefully never." Zuko stood up to stretch his legs. A small chip fell out of his pocket and hit the floor with a clinking sound. Zuko went for it, but Katara was quicker and closer to it. She leaned over the tea table and picked up the Pai Sho piece.

"You carry a White Lotus around with you?" Katara asked crossly.

"Yeah," he replied mechanically. He grabbed it from her and tucked it in to some sort of pocket.

"How come?" She asked, standing up. She began walking around the room to get the blood flowing into her legs again.

"It's my uncles," he explained.

"You love your uncle more than your father," Katara said, more as a statement than a question for Zuko to answer. Zuko pretended not to hear her, so if she had meant to make it a question, he wouldnt need to answer her.

"This place is horrific," Zuko studied the room. The dripping candles with waxy pools surrounding them, the dusty pillows and ashy bowl where the bones are used. The wood-paned walls were coated in wax, the ceiling looked like it could crash in on them at any moment, the door was nearly falling off its hinges. Zuko didn't even bother checking if it was locked, and Katara didn't either. That fortune teller may be a liar, but she wasn't stupid. And Katara and he weren't naïve enough to think she'd leave them in an unlocked room unattended.

"A bookshelf?"

"A bookshelf?" Zuko repeated, walking over to her and her new discovery. In the corner of the old room there was a broken down old bookshelf jam packed with large books, all also caked in dirt and dust. Each page had a layer of grime on them. Katara winced at the thought of picking one up. She grabbed one with three fingers, not wanting to dirty more fingers than she had to.

She opened it and flipped through the thick pages.

"What is it?"

"This ones about oracle bones," Katara responded.

"Oh, so what's it called? How to Rip Off the Common Traveler?"

"Oh, stop it." Katara scolded. Zuko snickered in reply. "It's how to place them, which cracks mean what, stuff like that." Zuko, uninterested in the books lies, picked up a different book. He opened it and ran his fingers through the pages. He began skimming one of them.

"Spells?" He asked in a mutter.

"Spells?"

"I just said that."

"I was repeating you." Katara put her book back on a creaking shelf and peered over on Zuko's shoulder. Her hair brushed against Zuko's cheek and he blushed.

"D-Do you want to hold it?" He asked awkwardly in a stutter. She snatched the book from him. Zuko looked over the spine of the book, making sure not to have a single hair come in contact with her face.

"They _are_ spells," she said in wonder. She flipped a few more pages and read some more. They both looked up at each other, noses only centimeters away. Zuko cleared his throat gruffly and took a step back. They both blushed.

"So, do you think that honesty spell is in here?" Katara asked Zuko.

"Maybe," he murmured.

"We need to look!" Katara exclaimed. "These are the spells themselves, all the effects, how and when they wear off," she ranted. Zuko put his finger to her lips.

"Shh. Start looking." Zuko grabbed another book and slid down to the floor. "An honesty spell..." he drifted off to himself.

"What if it's all in our heads?" Katara asked, sitting down across from him. Zuko looked up with an arched brow.

"Come again?"

"What if- what if I'm just dreaming this?" She looked around wildly. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"That would mean I'm having the same dream as you and I don't exactly qualify this as a dream...it's more of a nightmare." He muttered. He looked her in the eye. "This is not a dream. We really cannot lie."

"How do you know?" She tested. "Try to lie."

"Okay," he thought for a moment. "Toph is a ffffff_fff..._earth bender." He scowled. "We can't lie." He reported stiffly.

"Why?" She asked.

"What? What do you mean why? We can't lie because...because Toph isn't a fire bender, that's why!" He was beginning to get angry. "No more questions! Just look for the honesty spell!"

"But I think I'm dreaming." She replied. Zuko looked up at her as if she were a ditz. He reached over and smacked her knee with the book.

"Ouch!" She rubbed her knee and angrily looked up at Zuko. "What did you do that for?!"

"To prove you're awake." He smiled slyly.

He enjoyed that.

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Well folks, thats all for this chapter! I know, I know; there wasnt much fluff in this chapter. But don't worry...there will be down the line...

Also, I'd like to clear two things up: first of all, the whole "Spell book" things, don't worry; this isn't going to turn into a Harry Potter type of story. In the next chapter, that'll probably be the curtain call for all things "spell-casting" wise...but I won't tell you why...(:

Secondly, I had a lot of different names for this chapter. Questions, Humble Pie, etc. And each title has a story behind it. For this chapter I chose red because when Zuko said his favorite color was red and then asked Katara what her favorite color was and she said red, too, I was implying she was saying what she thought Zuko wanted to hear. She WAS being honest...it was her new favorite color the moment she found out Zuko liked the color too(: She's trying to find some common ground between them to make it seem like they have a connection.

Plus it was the best one I could think of. Ha...(:

ANYWAY...

Please review!


	4. Wanted

Hey everyone, here's the next chapter! I don't really have much to say except thanks to all who reviewed and to all of those who simply story alert me without reviewing…don't think I don't know who you are…I am simply offended…

…no not really. But it would've been appreciated for you to give me some feedback on whether or not ya like my humble little story over here.

Speaking of that "humble little story"…

Chapter Four: Wanted

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"I found it," Zuko said in a tone that was obviously trying to hide his excitement.

"What's it say?" Katara slapped her book shut and leaned closer to Zuko in anticipation. He looked up from the top of the book and glared.

"Well if you give me some time to read it," he muttered sarcastically. Katara ignored him.

"The honesty curse…something about magical, weird voodoo stuff, blah…makes person or persons directed at be completely and utterly honest for up to five to seven days."

"So basically a week?" Katara repeated. Zuko looked up at her again.

"You sound happy about that."

She shrugged. "It's less than I pictured."

"It's a lot," he corrected.

She stood up and walked away. "It's better than forever."

"True." Zuko put the book on the ground and stood up. "There's only one thing to do, then."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Zuko cracked his knuckles and stretched his back. He had a devilish, creepy smile on his face that showed excitement. "Break out."

"Break out?"

"Of course! What else would we do? Sit in this stuffy gross room for seven days and nights?" He asked. "If you want to do that, by all means. But I'm not."

"The door's locked, genius. How else are we going to get out?" she asked quizzically.

He shook his head. "You can be pretty naïve sometimes." He said bluntly. She pouted angrily at him. "We're going to fire bend out of here," he explained.

"_Fire_ bend?" She responded, sounding offended.

He snickered. "I already told you: water bending is a stupid, useless bending element. Fire bending can actually help us in this situation."

"Fire bending is dangerous and can kill someone."

"People drown in water."

"People burn in fire!"

"Water puts out fire. If someone's being burned and no water bender puts him out, then they're just as lame and useless as their bending skills are."

"Too bad no water bender would watch someone burn and do nothing about it," she replied. "We're not as cold-hearted as you fire benders."

Zuko snorted in reply and said nothing more. Katara felt satisfied and triumphant.

"Stand back," Zuko instructed. Katara listened and took a few paces backwards.

Zuko began punching and kick whips of fire from his limbs. He shot them towards the door and waited as the smoke rose to the ceiling before bending some more. He took a step back towards Katara and they watched the door and wall girding it burn.

"Fire: not useless."

"Shut up and lets move." Katara kicked the remaining ashy pieces of the door down and ran with Zuko right behind her. They got stopped at the door by the fortune teller.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We're leaving!" Zuko growled. "We're afraid your con-artist tricks might rub off on us if we stay any longer."

"And why would you think I'd let you leave?" She asked.

"You have no choice," Zuko replied. Katara looked around for something to fight with as the two bantered back and forth. She was surprised the fortune teller didn't have another curse up her sleeve to hit Zuko with.

"You're not going anywhere because--" Katara whipped the tea out of the tea pot sitting on the table. She bended it into strips and engulfed the fortune teller's hands and feet with it. She screamed from the singing pain of the heat. Katara breathed it cold and frozen so she was stuck standing in front of the door with her hands froze together. Katara pushed her out of the way and ran out the door, once again, with Zuko right behind her.

The waited until they were a few blocks away before they stopped and panted.

"Good work back there," Zuko complimented. She panted and nodded back. "I guess I owe you an apology."

"For what?" She asked, still panting.

"For saying water bending was useless," he replied. "The only way fire bending would've helped us with the fortune teller is if I burned her to death. You were right."

Katara smiled. "Apology accepted." She smiled wider and hugged him.

"What's this for?" He awkwardly latched onto her waist to hug back, blushing a beet red.

"For being honest," she grinned some more. He smiled back.

"It's dark out," she stated, gazing up at the sky in wonder.

"We were in there for less than a day?" He asked her. She shrugged in reply.

"I'm not sure, but I'm hungry." she chuckled and rubbed her stomach. He nodded in agreement and they walked towards the nearest food shop.

"What do you think the gang is up to?" Zuko asked as they waited in line to order. "You think they're looking for us?"

"Definitely, they're probably freaking out," she responded. The corner's of Zuko's mouth erected. He looked relieved and at peace with that news, as if he had never been worried about before. "We don't leave anyone behind in our group," she added to his comfort.

They sat down with their bowls of food at a small table in the corner. There were pretty lights above them and a bowl of some sort of incense sitting in the middle of the table. The glow of the small, papery lanterns warmed Katara and Zuko.

"Fancy," Katara noted.

"I guess so," Zuko replied with glazed over eyes. He shoved a spoonful in his mouth slowly and sucked on the spoon for a little while before repeating this routine. Katara delicately ate, making sure not to take too much at a time or slurp while doing so. The last thing she wanted to do was embarass herself with her actions. It was bad enough she had to blurt out the truth at random times.

"So how do you like being with the group so far?" She piped up, trying to strike a conversation. He shrugged in reply.

"It's alright."

"Alright?" she repeated. "Better than the Fire Nation?"

He chuckled and looked up at her. "Anything's better than the Fire Nation." He grabbed another spoonful. For being a guy, she was surprised at how refined his manners were. Then again, he wasn't any normal guy. He was royalty.

"True," she agreed.

"Do you like it?"

"Like what?"

"You know, traveling around, fighting off assassins, hanging with the Avatar and your brother all day?" She smiled at him.

"You can call him Aang, you know. And I wouldn't change it for the world."

He let out a surprised kind of grunt. She looked at him crossly.

"What is it?"

He shrugged again. Katara was getting frustrated with that body motion. It made her feel like she was the only one working at the conversation. She wished he wasn't so carefree and aloof.

"You just always seem so tense and mad with them, like you can't catch a break," he explained. She bit her lip and shrugged. '_Great, now I'm doing it too.' _She thought to herself. She sighed at her demise.

"Sometimes they're hard work to keep up and deal with. Toph, too. Her and I have had our scuffles from time to time," she chuckled at the memories.

"Weird," he said, "I wouldn't peg Toph as the 'scuffle' kinda girl. She seems more of the 'kick-your-ass-and-don't-you-forget-it' type."

"Oh yeah? Would you peg me as a scuffle type of girl?"

"Yes." She frowned.

"How come?" She raised her voice. He put his hand up in defense.

"If you don't want the honest truth, don't ask me questions you don't really want the answer to," he reminded her. "You know I'll answer them."

"I guess so," she admitted. "I am kind of a girly-girl." She looked ashamed to have said that, as if she could've lied about it.

"Every group of friends needs one," he defended her, "besides you're tough, too. You can definitely stand your ground and win a battle."

She blushed. "You think so?"

"I know so." He didn't look up at her, making sure she wouldn't catch him blushing, too. He finished his meal quickly before finally looking up at Katara and noticing that she had hardly touched her bowl of food. After a few minutes of silence Zuko began to groan.

"I feel like I haven't trained or exercised in ages!" he exaggerated. "I hate not training! I feel so useless right now!" He hid his face in his hand and dramatically slammed his elbow onto the table. The bowls wiggled and bounced in effect.

"You're not useless, Zuko. You don't even need to train. You're a great warrior and you already have an amazing body." She clamped her lips shut immediately after finishing her sentence. "You've got to be kidding me," she scolded herself in a murmur. Zuko looked up at her.

"You think I have an amazing body?" He asked.

"Yes," she looked away, blushing again. He sighed in a satisfactory way.

"So I have an amazing body and I'm hot," he added the list up. "What else do you like about me?" He asked rhetorically in a dodgy tone.

"Everything."

He looked up at her with an expression that read unexpected. Her entire face was enveloped in a shade of rosy pink. He was blushing too, though.

"Oh" he whispered, his voice cracking.

"You said it yourself: if you don't want the answer, don't ask."

"Trust me," he retorted, "I wanted that answer." They looked at each other and smiled sweetly.

"You know," she smacked her lips a few times, "I really hated you when you first joined the group, but I really like you now," she told him, realizing the plainspoken honesty and yet not caring about it. Neither took their eyes or smiles off the other.

"Thanks," he answered. She nodded. "Let's go find the others." She stood up with another nod.

"Right. Good idea."

Zuko and Katara walked through the same aisles of shops and merchants as they had before. They sky was filled with shining stars and a full moon. It made Katara crave to water bend.

The hustle and bustle of the shops were no longer around. There were a lot of people, but there seemed to be less individuals and many more couples. Everyone shared blushes and laughs and whispers in sets of two. Zuko and Katara were different; they knew the best way to enjoy two-on-two time on a night like this was to enjoy it in peace and quiet. They stayed silent during their walk, but not in an uncomfortable silence. It was too calming to bother the mood with words and they both knew that. Zuko watched his feet shuffle ahead while Katara kept her eyes on the moon and seemed to navigate her feet around people without actually looking at them. Until she tripped and fell over.

"Katara!" Zuko grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Are you okay?"

"Hey! Watch it!" Katara and Zuko looked over at an old, angry looking man. "You made me drop my basket of fish!"

Katara scrambled to grab the fish from the ground and put them back in the man's basket.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. It was an accident."

"I don't care. Now I have dirty, inedible fish!" He yelled in her face, also spitting debris on her cheeks. Zuko pushed him back protectively.

"She said she was sorry! Show some respect!"

The old man ignored his comment. "Keep your girlfriend in check!" The old man spit at Zuko's feet then stormed off with his basket of dirty fish. Katara looked guilty and upset. Zuko put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about him, he's a jerk."

"Thanks, Zuko." Feeling happy and grateful to Zuko, she hooked her arm with his and began walking again. She wasn't sure why, but she did. And she felt safe and okay with her arm with his. She didn't know what Zuko was thinking, but she wished she did. She hoped he was thinking about the old man calling her his girlfriend, just like she was. _'And he didn't even deny it. Did he think the old man mean a friend that was a girl, or did he know?' _

Katara settled on 'friend that's a girl', trying not to get ahead of herself.

"I wonder if they'll still be camped where we left this morning…the gang, I mean." Katara wondered aloud.

"Good question, we do move site pretty often," Zuko noticed. "It's worth a good shot to check there first, though."

"You're right." Katara unlinked her arm from his. "I hope Aang isn't _too_ excited." She mumbled.

"About seeing you?" He asked her. She nodded. "Why would you say that?"

"He's always so worried about me and is always all over me after situations like this," she vindicated.

"He cares for you," Zuko defended harmlessly.

"He's _in love_ with me," she gushed in an unfortunate tone.

"Exaggerating?"

"Not at all," she replied. "He's sweet and not ruthless when it comes to love, but I mean, he's kissed me two or three times."

Zuko stopped walking. "He has?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did you like it?" Zuko ignored her question.

"It was alright, I suppose. Kind of weird, though. I felt like I was kissing my Gran-Gran."

Zuko started walking again. '_Good. She didn't like it.' _he thought to himself.

"He just gets tiring sometimes," she went on.

"So he has a little crush on you, big deal. Sooner or later he'll get tired of chasing someone that isn't chasing him back."

"I hope your right," she sighed. "I don't want to hurt him, but he's just not the one for me."

"Do you think you know whose the one for you?" Zuko questioned carefully.

"I'm not sure, I've never even had a boyfriend before." She responded. "Have you had a girlfriend or a crush before?"

"Sure. I dated Mai for a little while, but I broke up with her before I came to teach Aang fire bending." Katara thought about Mai in the worst way possible and her mind exaggerated all her weak, ugly, insecure points so she could feel better about herself. She wanted so badly to fight Mai at that exact moment. And win.

"Do you still have a crush on her?" she asked him.

"I actually haven't thought about her since I left the Fire Nation. I'm not sure how I feel anymore." He looked down and watched his feet shuffle along on the dirt paths. "Do you have a crush on anyone?"

"I have one now," she said, blushing at the honesty. Zuko opened his mouth to speak again. "Please don't ask me who it is," she chuckled sheepishly. He shut his mouth and smile respectfully.

"Zuko!" Zuko and Katara turned around to find Toph.

"Toph?"

"Guys! I found them!" Toph waved Aang and Sokka over.

"Katara!" Sokka smiled when his eyes met his little sisters. Katara ran and hugged him tightly, tears swelling in her eyes. She always got emotional when she was away from Sokka. After all, he was the only small piece of family left that she could see on a daily basis. "Where have you been?" He pulled back. "We've all been worried sick about you guys!"

"Yeah Katara, even I missed you," Toph said. She turned to Zuko. "I didn't really miss you, though," Toph blushed under the layers of hair on her face, but not enough for him to see.

Aang leaped into Katara's arms. Katara chuckled weakly and made sure not to have her eyes meet Zuko's in fear of his judgement. She really did want to hug Aang hello, but she wanted to prove her point to Zuko more.

"So what happened to you guys? We've been searching for you since yesterday morning!"

"What?" Katara and Zuko yelped in unison.

"Yesterday morning?" Zuko repeated.

"Yeah, where were you?" Aang asked.

"We were shopping in a market yesterday morning and we went into a fortune tell--" Zuko slapped his hand over Katara's mouth and brought her into a small, quiet huddle away from the others.

"Let's not tell them about this 'honesty curse', okay?" Zuko whispered.

"Why not?" Katara whispered back.

"Let's not raise curiosity. What if they go after the old woman and they get cursed, too? Or if they take advantage of the whole 'honesty' bit and try and pry our minds to death," he offered examples.

"You're right," she nodded, "Let's let this situation blow over first, then we can tell them."

"Secret?"

"Secret," she agreed. The two walked back over to the group, all with confused expressions on their face.

"We went shopping and…" Katara chose her words carefully, trying to find a loophole in the honesty curse, "had some dinner!" That was okay, it was the truth.

"It took you nearly two days to shop and eat dinner?"

"And we took a nap," Zuko added. Again, okay. It was truthful. "An apparently _long _nap."

"Okay…" Sokka drifted. "Weird."

"Yeah," Toph concurred.

"So are you guys hungry now? We haven't eaten today at all," Aang said.

"I am," Katara said quickly. Zuko gave her a funny look that read 'didn't we just eat?' Then again, he noticed she had barely touched her meal back at that restaurant they went to.

"I just ate," Zuko began. "I think I'll just go back to camp and rest a little."

"Alright, Appa and Momo are still at the regular camp site. We'll meet you back there in a little while." Zuko nodded then headed off to camp.

Katara so badly wanted to go back with him, but her cursed lips made her admit her hunger.

Damn honesty.

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Whew! This was pretty long for me to write! Plus, a lot happened in this chapter so hopefully all of you can easily soak it up. I made it as Zutara as it could go this far into the story, but don't worry; it's gunna get a lot better…(: *coughREVIEWcough*

I'd just like to clear the air on two other "couple-y things". First of all, Zutara is the ONLY couple in this story, just in case that wasn't obvious.

Second, I do not mean to bash Aang in this. I love Aang! You should too! So sorry to any of those Kataang-ers that are also Zutara-ers…I don't mean to be mean to Aang.

Third, about Toph blushing at Zuko…I don't know…I think it's a cute idea for Toph to like Zuko…just because I'm weird. Lol.

*****And if any of you have ideas for better chapter titles…I'd _**ADORE **_anyone's help and you'd definitely get recognition in the chapters for helping me out, because I feel I need it…BAD.

So if any of you have good ideas for them…HELP.*****

And review! (: I might just update quicker and make the fluff fluffier…(: (: (: (:


	5. Her Favorite Feeling

Hey, hey, hey! Hope you're all having yourselves one heck of a summer (I know I am)!

Anyway, thank you all so, so, SO much for your reviews! They're super motivators to update quicker and make the fluff fluffier…keep it up!

Happy reading!

Chapter Five: Her Favorite Feeling

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Zuko briskly strode back towards the camp site. The night air was crisp and smelled clean and fresh, but it felt different walking alone. He tried hard to pretend Katara still had her arm wrapped around his for protection, but the feeling wasn't the same as the real thing. He had half the mind to go catch up with the others, but his feet kept moving forward. To pass time, he began kicking a small stone around as he walked.

Zuko looked around at happy couples and frowned at them when they turned to see him. He figured he was scaring them off, but he was feeling a little bitter. He watched his feet scrape the dirt roads and the laughs and conversations of other people around him faded away-- until he heard giggles from behind him. He twisted around with his arms up in battle position.

Nothing.

He huffed and kept walking. More giggles. Zuko growled through his teeth and he shot around again in a fighting position.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Show yourselves!" He heard faint whispers of coaxing and he put his arms down by his sides, realizing he wasn't about to be attacked…at least, not with a sword or bending skills...worse.

A short, light brunette girl strutted out from behind a small building. Three others girls stayed behind the building, but peered around the corner and watched their friend vividly, as if they were taking notes in their minds. Zuko found it hard not to grimace at the girls grossly done-up and caked-on face with bright pink lips and bright green eyes. She was definitely an Earth Kingdom elite. "Hi, there," she started.

"Hello," he replied in a monotone voice. "May I help you?"

She giggled cutely, but it didn't impress Zuko. In fact, it made him want to gag. How many Fire Nation girls had swooned over him like this when he came back from exile? Far too many for his taste.

"Well now that you mention it, I could use some company to stroll around the village with." Her voice was earsplitting and high-pitched. The hair on the back of Zuko's neck stood erect. He scratched them down awkwardly.

"No, thanks," he responded in a trail-off kind of way. "I should be getting home now."

She grabbed his arm and wrapped her arm around his. So badly did Zuko hate irony; he would've given his last breath to go back to walking alone and wishing Katara's arm was near his. Anything but this little girl's.

"Come on, now, the night is young,"

"So are you," he shot at her. He whipped his arm away. "I said no thank you." He turned to leave and she pounced in front of him with a pout smeared onto her fake-looking lips.

"I said I wanted to stroll around the village with you," she poked his chest hard.

He smacked her hand away. "And I said go find someone else. I'm not a toy."

She snorted. "You're right, you're a jerk!"

"And you wear too much makeup!"

She gasped in an offended way. Zuko sighed and mouthed to the sky 'Why me?'. She choked out a dramatic sob and covered her eyes.

"Faker," Zuko mumbled. This only made the teenage girl cry harder and now other couples were starting to look at Zuko funny. Her friends from beind the corner were glaring meanly at Zuko. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry," he sighed to her in a bored kind of way. '_I should've headed back to find the gang when I had the chance.' _

"No!" She cried between sobs. She pushed Zuko out of the way and ran away crying. The three girls chased after her, calling her name in soft, soothing tones. Zuko rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. He began walking again, trying to erase that memory from his brain.

"Hi Appa, hi Momo." He came into the camp site and slouched down onto Appa's tail. Appa laid down in acceptance of Zuko. Momo purred and curled onto Zuko's stomach. Normally Zuko would swat him away, but he was in no mood to move. He watched the little creature shut his eyes and Zuko followed his example with ease.

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"Zuko!"

Zuko groaned and opened one eye carefully.

"We're back!" Toph announced in sing-song tone.

"Okay," Zuko sang back with a hint of irritability.

"Have a nice nap?" Aang asked happily.

"I was hoping it'd be a nice sleep, but I suppose so," he sat up slowly. Katara was striding through the shallow creek with her bare feet.

"The water feels so nice," she stated with a smile. "It must be because of the moon." She looked up with awe.

"Nah, you always think it feels nice," Toph put her feet up on a rock and began sucking on a long piece of straw.

"It usually does," she kicked her foot up and watched the droplets splash back into the flow of the creek.

"Hey, where's Sokka?" Zuko inspected the campsite and couldn't find his Water Tribe friend anywhere.

Katara groaned. "He found some teenage girl _desperate_ for attention and he took her offer."

"Offer?" Zuko prayed it wasn't the same girl he ran into.

"She asked him to show her around the village," Toph said in a testy voice. She didn't sound so bought into the idea of a girl asking Sokka out like that. Zuko had to admit, if it was the same girl that asked him, he wouldn't be too sold on the idea, either.

"She was so…_prissy_." Katara added, kicking up some more water.

"Oh no…" Zuko muttered.

"What?"

"Do you think Sokka would bring her back to camp?" Zuko asked, praying the answer would be no.

"The show-off he is," Toph began, "probably." Just as she spoke, a high-pitched laugh came through the thicket from the road to the market. Zuko heard Sokka's pompous, manly, 'I'm-going-to-try-and-impress-you' voice and he slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Oh Sokka, you're so funny," the girl gushed.

"Yeah, I know," he said slowly. Katara retched and Toph pretended to strangle herself to death. Aang and Katara shared chuckles over their friend's antics.

Sokka walked the girl over towards the rest of the group. "You guys, this is--"

"Jerk!" The girl interrupted with a shout. She made an angry face and pointed at Zuko. "You're that jerk!"

"He is?" Sokka asked her. "He's the boy you said made you cry?"

"Yes! What is _he_ doing here?" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey! Don't be rude to him!" Katara yelled at the girl. She hid behind Sokka with big, wide eyes.

"Zuko's my pal," Sokka told her. The girl lightly pushed him with a snort.

"I don't like your friends!"

"Sokka," Aang trailed in, "maybe your friend should leave."

"Yeah before she gets her ass kicked!" Katara shot a dirty glare at the girl.

"You wouldn't hurt me! You _can't_!"

Katara whipped a strip of water from the creek. "Wanna bet!"

"Katara, stop!" Zuko leaped off of Appa's tail and raced over to Katara. "She isn't worth your time. We all know if you really wanted to, you could beat her."

"Trust me Zuko, I _really_ want to!"

"Whoo! C'mon Sugar Queen! Show Giggles what you're made of!" Toph cheered from the sidelines. Zuko was fairly surprised she wasn't trying to get a piece of the action too.

"Toph, don't encourage her!" Aang scolded in a whisper.

"Fight! Fight!" She punched a fist in the air. "This is the most action I've seen all day!"

"You can't even see it," Sokka murmured. The ground under him spiked up and he flew into the air and, head first, fell onto a thick tree branch,

"I heard that!" Toph snarled.

"No fighting!" Aang pleaded. He looked at Toph and Sokka, then back to Katara and this young girl. "Please, miss, I think you've overstayed your welcome here."

"She overstayed her welcome before she even showed up," Katara corrected Aang, not daring to take her eyes off of the girl.

"Don't be jealous that I'm prettier than you!" Is that all this girl had going for her? Looks?

"I'm not, trust me! I'd rather be ugly and humble than pretty and snobby! And you don't get to insult my friends and get away with it!"

She chuckled tauntingly in reply. "You're friend is a jerk. Why protect him?" She made a kiss-y face at Katara. "Do you have a crush on him?" she asked in a mocking, childish voice.

"Yes!" Katara yelled. Her eyes got wide and she saw Zuko take a few steps away from her. She bit the inside of her cheek and didn't dare look at Toph and Aang, who were feet behind her now. Sokka fell out of the tree in alarm. "I-I mean nnn_nnnn_…yes." She dropped the water in defeat. She had forgotten about the curse. "Toph!" She cried.

That was all Toph needed to hear. "See ya, Giggles!" She kicked her foot up and smashed it into the earth. The ground underneath the teenage girl lifted and drove away towards the market. As the rock she was on got farther away, her high-pitched shrieks got quieter and quieter until they disappeared.

"Let's get to bed, guys," Aang said. There was no emotion in his voice. He flopped onto Aang's tail and turned his back to Katara. Sokka limped around her and fell onto his sleeping bag. Toph created herself a little rock hammock and Katara didn't even bother looking to see where Zuko was. She grabbed her sleeping bag and dragged it twenty feet away from the others under the shade of a tree.

The moon was white and shone sparkling and bright through the branches and leaves and Katara couldn't even admire it. She had destroyed the fabric of her and Zuko's friendship by blurting out the one thing she held secret to the others.

Katara fell asleep with her head under her blanket, ashamed to even share the same air as Zuko.

Katara woke up when the sun was high enough in the sky to hit her eyes. She grumbled and muttered as she slid her legs out of her sleeping bag. She looked around camp; Sokka, Aang and Toph weren't there. Zuko was firing long, big strips of flames into the sky. Katara quivered as she stood up. '_Well, we'll have to talk sometime.' _

"Hi," she greeted sheepishly. Zuko had his back turned to her. He stopped bending.

"Hi," he didn't bother looking at her. Instead, he looked up at the sun.

"Where are the others?"

"Market."

_'One worded answers. That's what I've created.'_ She played with her fingers and cradled her hands. Zuko did and said nothing. He didn't even look at her.

"I'm sorry," she offered. She shuffled her feet before deciding the only comfort and relief she'd get here is dipping her feet into the rushing, cold creek. She exhaled as the water calmed her shaky legs. She felt the cool water replace the warm blood in her veins: her favorite feeling.

She looked over at Zuko again. "Did you hear--"

"Yes."

_'Another one worded response. Big shock!'_

"Oh, okay," she whispered shyly. "I mean it."

"I know," he started. "You can't lie." She cringed as the icy words spilled out of Zuko's mouth. It felt like a knife in Katara's back.

She splashed her foot lightly. "Do you accept my apology?"

Zuko put his head down and looked at the ground. "No," he sighed. "Maybe. I don't know."

Silence came through the camp site again. It seemed like every time Zuko and Katara wanted to talk to one another, silence entered anyway, whether they liked it or not.

Katara studied his back. His legs were still in the same place. His arms were still stiff and immobile. The only thing that moved was his light hair, picking up the brisk, cool breeze.

"Will you please at least look at me?" She asked quietly. She doubt he had heard, but she was dying that he would. He sighed and turned to look at her. He took small footsteps towards her, and sat down about a foot away. He kept his feet away from the water.

"It's okay if you don't accept my apology. I understand: you're upset."

"No, I'm not," he told her. "I'm humiliated and caught off guard." His muscles tightened up again. Katara didn't dare look at his face so she stared at his bulky arms. "You should've told me when we were alone…like when I asked you if you liked anyone while we were walking back to camp? Yeah, that would've been a good time."

"No, it would've been awkward and unbearable and--"

"It is now," he curtailed. "Except the only difference is if you said it then only you and I would've known. Now all our friends know!"

Katara breathed in and out for moment or two. She soaked up all of his words and began to realize how self-conscience he was and how desperate he was to fit in. She felt her heart fall from her chest and into her stomach. The cold water rushed out of her veins and refilled with blood.

"I didn't even want you to know," she whispered, her voice cracking a little. After a few more moments of silence, she began again. "So you don't like me back, then?" Katara mashed her teeth into her tongue, trying to fight tears from spilling over.

Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Sokka leaping out of the bushes and diving into the river. Katara's heart wasn't in her stomach anymore; it was evaporated into acidic bubbles that now gave her indigestion, even before she ate breakfast. She hated Sokka right now. Now more than ever.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to wake up," Toph and Aang strode out of the thicket and crossed over the river. Sokka swam to the deep edges of the creek where it formed a pond. He dove under the waters surface, clothes and all.

"So what did you two _lovebirds_ do while we were gone?" Sokka trudged out of the water and shook off some droplets. Katara didn't even bother looking at Zuko, already picturing his 'See? I told you so' expression.

"Nothing," she replied nonchalantly. Zuko stood up and walked away into the forest without telling anyone where he was going or when he'd get back. Katara pretended not to notice and she walked over to Aang.

"Hi, Aang," she began.

"Hi." His voice was monotone and chilled. Katara was afraid of that. Afraid that he would be upset with her for liking Zuko…and even worse, admitting it.

"How'd you like the market?"

"Fine." He walked past her and slumped down near Appa.

"Oh, okay!" She pepped herself up, masking her mix of emotions. "We'll talk later then, I guess." Sokka sat down on a rock next to Toph and they began whispering to each other and giggling.

"What's so funny?" Katara demanded gruffly.

"Oh, nothing, we're just making a little wager," Toph replied. Sokka disapprovingly nudged her elbow.

"So, Katara," Sokka began, pretending Toph hadn't said that, "what _really _went on between you two while we were gone?" He wiggled his eyebrows. He and Toph shared some more laughs. Katara frowned and slapped him.

"You're annoying!"

'You're irritable!" She slapped him again.

"Go on, Sokka! Try another snazzy remark and see if she doesn't hit you this time!" Toph said sarcastically with fake enthusiasm. Sokka stuck his tongue out at her. Katara rolled her eyes and walked away.

'_I'll just take a walk to blow off some steam,' _she lied to herself. What she was really doing was following Zuko so she could catch up and talk to him. '_He didn't finish his sentence when I asked him if he liked me back. For all I know, he could've said yes. Damn Sokka for butting in at all the wrong times!'_

"Zuko!" She saw whips of fire from behind a tree and she burst out of the woods to a small patch of grassy land.

"Katara? Get out of here, I'm busy," he replied, shooting some more fire into the sky.

"Can we please talk?" she goaded. Zuko saw the plea in her eyes and knew he would never be left alone by anyone until he talked.

"Fine. Fast."

"Do you like me?" she dove right into the subject, ignoring the term 'beat around the bush'.

"Of course I do," he replied as he crossed his arms.

"I mean like more than a friend," she corrected her speech. Zuko bit his lip and looked away in thought.

"I like you more than any other girl I know," he sounded more like he was asking a question than stating a fact. "Even Mai."

"Your sister and her friends? Me? Toph? You don't know many girls, Zuko," Katara replied sharply and impatiently. "Tell me up front the complete truth."

"I am, remember?"

"Right," she mumbled. _'That's supposed to make me feel better? We're surged into complete honesty, I admit I have a crush on you, and you reply by saying you like me more than your ex-girlfriend?! I hate you…' _

"Now you hate me?" Zuko asked in disbelief. Katara's head shot up with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"Huh?"

"You just said you hated me?" Zuko asked again.

"I said that out loud?" Katara was asking herself more than she was asking him.

"Yes?" He asked another question back, not knowing who Katara was actually talking to, and what she was really thinking.

She groaned. "I'm confused!"

He snorted. "_You're _confused? Last night you told all our friends you have a crush on me, now you're saying you hate me. And I know it must be true because of the whole honesty curse and--"

"Do you think you could learn to like me back?"

She hated herself for asking that.

'_I hate me for asking that! Damn myself and my dumb questions!'_

After what seemed like forever, Zuko finally responded with a shrug. "Maybe I--"

She punched him and he let out a holler of pain and unexpectedness. "I _hate _when you shrug! And you do it all the time!"

He rubbed his arm. "You're full of hate today!" he yelled back.

"Go away!"

"Fine!"

"No--wait, stay!" Zuko looked at her impatiently. His face read 'Make up your mind, Katara'. "I hate that I like you. I hate that I told everyone that. I hate that I was stupid enough to go see a fortune teller. I hate…I hate myself right now!" Katara felt a whooping amount of relief on her shoulders, although maybe that's because Zuko was gently massaging them.

"Don't hate yourself," he whispered in her ear. Katara felt her heart leap out from her indigestion and acidic bubbles, and float back upwards and thump loudly in her chest. She was afraid Zuko would hear it, and she was hoping extra hard it wasn't shaking the earth as much as she thought it was.

"But I'm such a dork," she chuckled sheepishly under pressure. _'He knows I have a crush on him and yet he's massaging me and whispering in my ear. He says he doesn't have a crush on me, and yet here he is! Seductively massaging me and whispering in my ear!' _

"No you're not," he replied with a small, short laugh. "You're awesome." Katara pouted. She shook his hands from her shoulders and stood up angrily.

"How can you think I am awesome and beautiful and everything else you've told me these past three days and not like me back?" She questioned. Zuko got wide eyed and backed up. "Please answer me--" He slapped his hand over her mouth.

"We're being watched," he whispered cautiously.

"You two!" A husky, loud voice boomed from the woods. Zuko and Katara got back-to-back in a fighting stance. Zuko's hands burst into flames and Katara snatched her water pouch and sucked a ball of water out that floated between her hands.

"Show yourself!" Zuko commanded. A large, muscular bald man stomped out of the woods and stood in front of Zuko.

"You're the boy who made my little girl cry, yes?"

"What?" Katara looked at him angrily. "That snobby girl from last night was your _daughter_?" She put emphasis on the word daughter, unable to accept and process this new knowledge. Zuko looked just as surprised, but he was a little better at masking emotions, including shock.

"And you must be the water bender that threatened her!" He pointed a thick, long finger at Katara.

"Get out of here! You're out matched!" Zuko warned him. The large man lunged towards Zuko and he instinctively threw a blast of fire at him. The man dodged Zuko and grabbed Katara by the scruff of her dress's collar. He picked her up and Katara dropped her water pouch and yelped in surprise and fright. The ball of water smashed into the grass and was absorbed. The man clutched her hands tightly before she could bend it back out of the ground.

"Katara!" Zuko cried. "Put her down!"

The man grinned evilly. "You don't get to have it your way here," he gripped tightly to her ankle and threw Katara over his shoulders, balancing her above his head. Zuko prepared to fire bend.

"Zuko! Don't!" Katara yipped. Zuko stopped in his tracks and nodded in reply. She was scared, and he didn't want to scare her more by fire bending at the man who held her life in his hands.

"Put her down!" Zuko screamed at the man again. "I order you to!"

The man laughed at Zuko's face. "You _order_ me to? What are you? Some sort of royalty?"

"Yes!" Zuko retorted with rage. "Now release her!" Against his will and having to do with his level of anger, his hands and feet were engulfed with fire. His eyes were the same piercing color.

"Let's play a game of hide and seek instead," the man tested. "I hide your little girlfriend in the woods and you go find her!" He lurched over and threw Katara. Zuko and Katara both screamed and Zuko jumped for her hand as she flew over, but missed by mere inches. Katara flew over the nearest tree and hit the other one. Zuko heard branches snap as Katara fell through the canopy and hit her head. She fell on her side with a yelp and didn't get back up. Zuko's eyes got wide and the fire around him got hotter.

"Damn you!" Zuko thrashed all the fire he could possibly conjure up and directed it at the man. The man laughed triumphantly and left the plains, unharmed.

Zuko growled as he raced towards Katara. He slid on his knees to her and picked her head up.

She was unconscious.

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Yeah, I know…this chapter is heavy and VERY unexpected, right?

I'll let you guys absorb the entire chapter for a little while before I update again, okay?

Please review and tell me if you like this chapter or not!


	6. Honesty

Hey all you happy people! I'm back with the next chapter! (: I'm sure-- since you're reading this, after all-- you're all super excited as to what is coming next for our little friends Katara and Zuko…(:

Also, WOW. Chapter five got the most reviews ever! Thank you guys all SO much…I honestly hated that chapter and thought all of you would, too…thankfully I was wrong(:

Now without further ado…

Chapter Six: Honesty

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Sokka stretched with a soft groan and shook some more drops of water off of him. He yawned and flopped down on Appa's leg next to Aang. "I'm bored," he complained, "now what?"

"Not sure," Aang replied, sounding just as bored. "Where do you think Katara went?" he asked curiously. Sokka hoped this conversation wasn't going to turn into an awkward, girl advice-type of conversation. He just was too tired for that.

"I don't know," he muttered, "probably somewhere watery," he did a water trickling motion with her fingers dancing around in front of him.

Aang nodded, barely listening. He looked around with a sigh, trying to soak up something interesting and exciting to look at. He settled on Toph.

"Hi, Toph," he waved at her dumbly.

"Hey, Twinkle Toes," she replied lowly, her head resting on her arms and her feet planted sternly on the dirt. "How's it going over there?" she asked, her eyes shut.

"It's good," Aang perked up. He breathed uncomfortably, waiting for her to reply. When he realized she wasn't going to, he turned his attention back to Sokka.

He was asleep snoring with Momo curled up on his head.

"Toph, you wanna go for a walk with me?" Aang called to her, looking back to her.

"Nope," she deadpanned.

"Oh, okay," Aang responded quietly. '_When Toph and Sokka are both bored it makes for a lousy day,' _he thought,_ 'Zuko not around to teach me fire bending makes me feel a little useless and Katara not being here, probably with Zuko, and liking him more than a friend makes for a terrible love life.' _

He looked down at his feet and watched them swing slowly back and forth. From the corner of his eye he watched Toph shoot up off the ground into a fighting position. He realized something was wrong and clutched onto Sokka's knee tightly to wake him up. Sokka screeched then groaned awake, quickly sitting up. Momo snickered at him and flew up onto Appa's saddle and fell back asleep.

"Someone's coming," Toph hushed alertly.

"Katara?" Aang trotted over to her, Sokka hedging behind.

"No. It's not Zuko, either," Toph responded. Her pupils were large and her eyes looking around wildly. She was listening carefully. "He's big, whoever he is," she informed them. "His heart beat is racing, like he's angry or excited."

"Is he friendly?" Sokka asked drowsily. Toph punched him in the arm.

"How on earth am I supposed to know that from his footsteps and heartbeat?" She asked him. "Don't be stupid, Sokka."

"If there's a large person angrily stomping towards us, he doesn't sound too friendly," Aang put his voice back into the conversation.

"We should get out of here, then," Sokka pressed, waking up a little more now.

"What?" Aang looked at him, shocked, "Katara and Zuko aren't back yet!"

"And we don't know when they'll get back either," Toph added. Aang couldn't tell if she was taking his side or Sokka's, although if there was a fight involved he couldn't imagine her not wanting to stay and get some of the action.

"We can't leave them behind!" Aang reminded them both.

"They can handle themselves," Sokka said smoothly, "they're both great benders and excellent warriors. They'll be fine."

"I don't care," Aang said stubbornly, "we can't leave without them, Sokka."

"Then you'll have to fight!" A thundering voice boomed through the trees and right behind it was the culprit: a tall, large, bald man with an angry look on his face with clenched fists and teeth to match.

"What do you have against us?" Toph ordered, shifting her body to his direction. Next to her, she punched up a boulder from the earth, just in case.

"You're the earth bender who attacked my little innocent daughter last night!" He screamed, his brow furrowed with rage.

"What? Toph would never attack anyone with earth bending--" he stopped himself and even Toph was muffling a chuckle at that lie, "--Toph didn't attack anyone last night!" he corrected himself. He heard Toph mutter a 'smooth, Sokka' to herself. He stuck his tongue out at her.

"And you must be the other jerk teenage boy that broke her heart!" he pointed at Sokka. Sokka reached behind him for his boomerang and unsheathed it. Aang air bended his glider from Appa's saddle over towards him.

"Other?" Aang repeated, thinking of Zuko and praying he wouldn't be attacked, too.

"Get out of here!" Toph commanded, ignoring Aang.

"You'll have to fight me first," he replied with a certain glint of hunger for a battle in his eyes.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Sokka whispered to Aang and Toph, both in a better fighting position than he was. "Let's save our energy for another day," he suggested. Toph snorted in shock.

"No way, he challenged me," she retorted, "I'll never back down from a challenge," she promised. She flung the boulder in front of her and shot it at the man. The man swiftly dodged it with a mocking hum.

She groaned in an ironic way. "You bother me more than little Giggles did!" She kicked up another rock and chucked it him.

"You'll have to do better than that, little girl," he tested her. Toph growled craziliy, grinding a boulder twice the size of the other two put together. She lifted it over her head and flung it at him. Just as it were to hit the man, he made a sneak attack and lifted a large wooden bat from off of his back. He cracked the bat against the boulder and it smashed to pieces and ricocheted back to Toph.

"Toph move!" Aang shouted.

"The rocks are in the air! I can't see them!" She cried. One last piece of the big boulder shot towards her head and Sokka hollered as he grabbed her and threw her to the ground in protection and the rock hit him instead. Aang let out a rough noise in horror of his friends being thrown to the ground. He couldn't help but picture that happening to Zuko-- Katara, even-- as well.

"Sokka!" Aang and Toph cried in unison as Sokka hit the ground. He grumbled and sat up slowly, only to fall back down.

"Twinkle Toes! We need to get him out of here! Forget Zuko and Katara, they'll be fine!" Toph yelled at Aang. Aang nodded in agreement and Toph pulled Sokka up onto Appa's tail and tossed him into the saddle. Aang leapt onto Appa's head as the man, still on the ground, made a battle cry and raced towards Appa, bat in clinched hand.

"Yip, yip!" Aang held his breath until they were firmly off the ground and safely in the air above the man and out of attacking reach. He heard Toph let out a breath of relief.

"Sokka!" She shook his shoulders. "Wake up!" After a few moments of Sokka still not moving, Toph gave up.

"He's unconscious," Aang told her, unable to stomach looking at his friends. Sokka had a drip of blood running down his forehead and he could only imagine how confused, small and defeated Toph must feel, even if she'd never admit it. She had never failed miserably in a battle like that before.

Aang had fear and submission fighting within him and he clutched his stomach to try and make it stop.

"Don't worry, Aang, everyone will be okay."

He had never heard such a comforting voice come from her like that.

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Katara let out a small, winding moan as she woke up from the feeling of her brain knocking back and forth in her head. She let her hand slip from her stomach, expecting it to hit the ground, but it didn't. It flung in the air and hung down. '_Where am I and what on earth am I doing?'_ She let out another groan and opened one eye.

The soft, shady sky was falling towards the horizon. '_What happened? Why am I moving?' _

And then she stopped.

Katara felt a grip tighten in anger on her shoulder and knee and she heard a frustrated growl. She opened both eyes to see the bottom of Zuko's face.

"Where did they go?" he was talking to himself in a hushed, agressive tone.

"Z-Zuko?" He snapped his neck downwards and looked at Katara blankly. "Hi," she mumbled lazily. Katara felt him kneel down and place her gently on the ground. The sticky grass scratched her bare arms.

"I-I'm sorry," he began quickly and nervously, "You were unconscious and weren't moving so I picked you up and I was bringing you back to camp but the others aren't here anymore and--"

"It's alright," She muttered softly, rubbing her pounding forehead. It felt worse to her than waking up in the fortune teller's house. _'Wait-- unconscious.' _

"I was unconscious?" she asked him frantically. He nodded with a pushed sigh.

"That annoying girl's father came after us and-and I couldn't do anything about it!" He stood up angrily and a spark of flames left both of his clenched fists. Katara leaned to the other side, afraid of being burned. "I hate not being able to do anything!" She gently wrapped her hand around his wrist and his hands immediately loosened.

"This isn't your fault," she whispered to him steadily. He fell back onto his knees and stared at his lap. She could feel the shame and contempt weighing down on his shoulders.

"Yes it is, I should've been able to stop that jerk from hurting you but I didn't! He got away!" Katara put her finger to his lips and slid it onto his rough cheek. He shut his eyes and moved his neck away with a scowl. He was always so stubborn and hard on himself.

"Why would the others leave without us?" She asked him, pondering the question herself. "That doesn't sound like them," she continued.

"You're the one who said they never leave a person behind," he reminded her.

"Right." Katara stood up with buckling knees and crept over to the winding creek. She shoved her hands into the water and let the cold feeling shift into her body. _'How relaxing.'_ She wiped her wet hand on her throbbing head once, then repeatedly, enjoying the feeling. Every now and then she'd peer around her shoulder to make sure if Zuko was still there.

He always was.

"Maybe they were attacked," She reported, sliding her wet hand over her bare arms. It felt too good to resist.

"By that man that jumped us?" he questioned. Katara nodded in retort.

"Yeah," she replied, "maybe after he attacked you and I, he went to find the others and they flew away on Appa and said they'd come back here for us. Or maybe they flew away on Appa to go look for us to make sure we were safe."

"It's possible," he agreed, wanting to believe anything but that they ditched him and Katara. In that way, he always seemed to unsure.

"I'm sure that's exactly what happened," Katara assured him with a happy smile and thumbs-up. He chuckled quietly at her and she couldn't help by return it. To her, he was more irresistible than the water. Speaking of which, "I'm gunna go swimming, okay?"

"Sure," he fell backwards onto the grass and stared at the sun.

"I'm guessing you wouldn't care to join me?" She asked him, whipping her shoes off. She took her day dress off and stood merely in her bathing clothes. Katara trekked carefully into the water, making sure not to step on any rocks or fish, or to slip on any moss. She twirled and danced over to the deep edge of the river where it served as a pond. She felt the adrenaline and water replace her insides as she dove under, a grin widening her face.

As Katara attacked the water's surface with a splash, she shook her hair free of any extra drops of water. She blinked to get the water from her eyes and she turned to the direction of Zuko, who was still laying on the grass, gazing at the sun.

As much as she wanted him to join her in the cool water, she knew as long as there was sun still in the sky, it'd never happen. He was connecting, just like she was when she was with and around water. '_But the problem is, if I'm over here and he's over there, nothing is going to change.'_

Katara dunked under one last time and let bubbles slip from her nose and mouth and she giggled, accidentally swallowing some water. She jumped out onto the small, thin shore and coughed a few times. From the corner of her eye she watched Zuko shoot up.

"You okay?" he called to her in the most concerned tone she had ever heard come from him.

"Yeah," She coughed with a nod. He laid back down and watched the sun. Katara didn't bother getting dry or putting her day dress back on; the feel of drips of water on her hot skin felt exquisite and it took much time to do anything other than that. She walked over to where Zuko was and laid down next to him. She had to cover her eyes after a second or two.

'_Great, now I'm seeing colorful sun spots each time I blink. How could he openly stare at the sun like this?' _She looked over at him.

His eyes were closed.

'_Oh, that explains it.'_

"It feels nice," he said slowly, feeling her eyes burn through his skin, "just letting the sun be on me."

Katara felt the drips of water on her wet skin dry up quickly. "Not especially," She responded truthfully.

"Not to a water bender, it doesn't," he smirked cutely. She couldn't help but giggle. A grin spread onto his face as she laughed, and for some reason it only made her laugh harder.

"You're silly," his eyes were still closed but the expression on the rest of his face was worth a thousand words. Katara sighed happily and shut her eyes, trying to put herself into Zuko's body…the feeling and energy of the sun.

"You don't have to lay in the sun just because I am," he told her with comfort. She laughed giddily some more. He looked over at her and watched her laugh to herself. "Why are you so happy?" he asked her. Katara stopped laughing. For one reason or another, that question slightly offended her.

"Why do you ask?" the corners of her mouth creased downward a bit. "What's wrong with being happy?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly. "It just seems off-putting, I suppose."

"You've never been happy?"

For some reason, that made Zuko chuckle to himself, as if he and Katara had just switched bodies. "No." Ironically, his unhappiness seemed to amuse him.

Katara arched her brow. "Are you lying?" She sat up halfway and rested on her forearms.

He opened one eye and looked over at her. "_Can_ I lie?" he asked her rhetorically. "Obviously not."

"Just because you're never happy doesn't mean you can ruin my good day, you know," she crossed her arms with a huff.

He chuckled again. "I think I just did." He shut his eye and rested his hands on his chest in a relaxed manner.

"Well you did!" She replied honestly with a touch of meanness.

"I know that," he said smartly. Katara angrily slapped his arm. This time he opened both eyes and looked at her. He sat up and faced her. "You're always easily hot-headed."

She gasped and glowered at him. "What are you doing?" she asked him harshly.

"Trying to get you not to like me," he responded icily. Zuko shot up and stormed away until he was under a tree in the shade, twenty feet from her. Actually, it was the same tree Katara had slept under the night before.

'_What a jerk! How could he do that to me?!'_

Katara felt tears swell up in her eyes and she hugged her legs tightly, digging her nails into her legs. She fell to her side, still curled in a ball, and shut her eyes tightly, humming the lullaby her mother would sing her to sleep with.

The smell of cooking fish and the cracks of burning wood woke her up, two hours later while the last peak of sun was under the horizon. The sky was dark blue with shiny white dots as stars.

"Katara," she heard Zuko call her name and it only made her shut her eyes and squeeze them tighter. She heard the patter of footsteps on bending grass come closer and closer. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder shake her gently.

"Katara," he repeated. "I made you some dinner."

Katara whipped his hand away and stood up quickly, not bothering to look at him. "I heard you the first time," she said coolly. Zuko sighed pessimistically and watched her snatch her fish away from the fire and get settled next to it before he even dared to take a step forward.

For the most part, dinner was quiet other than the bugs chirping, fire cracking and teeth chewing. Normally Katara was the one agitated by the silence and Zuko was the one who enjoyed it the most, but tonight the tables had turned and Zuko was getting angry…_fast_.

Katara sat on one side of the fire, and Zuko on the other. Katara kept her eyes on her meal and on nothing else.

"Katara," he began with a deep breath.

"You don't have to say it," she interrupted sharply. "I know what you're going to say, Zuko."

'_That I'm sorry? That I thought about what I said and realized I don't mean it anymore? That I should've given you the chance to hear my explanation on why nothing can happen?' _he thought to himself, taking his tenseness out on the fish bouncing under his teeth.

"That you don't like me back and could never," she looked up at Zuko, her eyes wild. But not with anger, no, something strange..._different_. Zuko couldn't put his finger on it. "Honestly," the key word to all of their meaningful conversations, "I don't want to know why. And you shouldn't need to explain why you don't like me, it doesn't matter. It's none of my business and frankly I'd like to keep it that way for good." She popped another piece of fish in her mouth. Zuko was still gnawing on his first piece.

"No," he swallowed, "no."

"Yes." He saw the glint in her eye again.

It was neglect.

"No!" Katara backed off, knowing how easily angered Zuko is. "You don't get it."

"Yes I do," she insisted.

"No, you don't," he exhaled slowly, taking his exasperation with it. "Let me explain." He looked up at her for permission to continue. She crossed her legs curtly and that was good enough for him. "I can't think like that, or live with that emotion…love, I mean," he explained. "It's sad."

"How is love sad? It's not supposed to be sad, it's supposed to be joyful and exhilarating and…and maybe you're just not doing it right!" she curtailed in a stutter, throwing different excuses out for him. He disregarded all of them and continued.

"Everyone that's cared for me isn't doing to great with their lives right now," he went on, "my uncle is now in jail, Mai is in jail, my mother was banished--"

"They think you're worth all the pain and discomfort in the world, Zuko," Katara implored. Zuko sniggered and stood up roughly. "And they wouldn't change it for the world."

"How do you know?" he asked her, crossing his arms tightly, refusing to believe her.

"Because I wouldn't," she said innocently. Zuko let the words fall into his ears and he stood staring at the grass for a few moments before registering her words.

"Really?" he asked her. Katara watched the wall guarding him crack down the middle. She trotted over to him and wrapped her arm around his. That warm, fuzzy feeling Zuko got the night before when she had down the same thing fluidly swam back into his body.

"Really," she whispered. Katara thought after that about the honesty curse. It was a fluke. Her mouth was honest but her mind and body wasn't. It felt surreal to her, and for some reason, it bothered her that she, in her mind and thoughts, could still lie to herself. She hadn't yet, of course, but she could. If she wanted to.

Katara rested her head on Zuko's shoulder and tightened her grip on his arm. She brought it closer to her until his hand brushed against her thigh and that's when she finally felt…_honest_.

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(: (: (:

Alright, obviously the Sokka-Toph-Aang bit was to show what happened to them while Zuko and Katara were trekking back towards camp. Where are they? You'll never know!…for now (because they're slightly less important than Zuko and Katara in this story?…lol)

Also, it was slightly graphic with Sokka bleeding, obviously it wasn't bad, but still, sorry!

And this isn't a Taang-y or Tokka-y story…just Zutara(:

Review? Yes/no? *coughYEScough*


	7. Little Yellow Flower

Hey, ya'll. I know I'm updating a little quicker than usual. BUT...this chapter was just so frickin' adorable my computer just couldn't contain it any longer! (:

This is definately the chapter everyone's been waiting for...(: (: (:

Chapter Seven: Little Yellow Flower

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Zuko rolled over with a groan and Katara's head fell off his chest and hit the ground making her wake up with yelp.

"Thanks, Zuko," she said sarcastically while rubbing her paining head.

"Yeah," he mumbled back, searching the gray, cloudy sky for a break where the sun could shine through. None. '_Fantastic,' _he thought to himself, _'today is going to suck.' _

"I hope it rains today!" Katara looked up at the sky with a happy smile on her face. Zuko let out a disgusted whimper. "What? You don't like rain?" she asked him.

Zuko turned back to her. "Do you think I'm going to say yes?"

Katara bit her lip in thought. "Guess not," she muttered. She picked at her fingernails for a moment or two, trying to think of something to say to Zuko. "So," she began, "I can't believe that big, ugly guy was the father of that small, pretty little girl from the other night," she chuckled. "Can you?"

"You thought she was pretty?" Zuko asked her, ignoring everything else she said.

"I guess so," she replied. "Why?"

"I didn't think she was," Zuko informed her, "she was too dressed up and impersonal for me."

"Oh?" Katara responded. "Explain, please," she smiled in anticipation of what he would say to her next. Katara let her eyes outline his silhouette a few times while Zuko was silent, collecting his thoughts on how exactly to explain.

"I like girls simple and upfront. No makeup or big, fancy, bright dresses. They just cover up all the impurities and personality of a girl."

"Like Mai?" Katara asked, leaning on her hand.

Zuko laid back and plucked a small yellow flower from the grass and rolled the stem around in his fingers, watching the flower dance around in his fingers.

"No," he finally said. "Not like Mai."

"Mai was covering up with makeup and bright dresses?" Katara asked. Neither could help but laughing at the picture of Mai in a bright pink dress and a ditzy smile on her face.

"No," Zuko chuckled. "But she covered up her personality in a different way," he explained.

Katara scoffed. "_What _personality?" Katara smacked her lips together, not meaning to say that out loud. '_Damn honesty! Now Zuko's gunna hate me! You're not supposed to taunt their ex-girlfriend and expect them to like you more!' _

"Exactly," Zuko replied. Katara's jaw dropped in surprise of his response. "She did and said nothing personal. What's worse than talking to someone with no mind of their own?" he riddled Katara.

"What?" she replied, smiling.

"Talking to someone with no voice or interest in talking," he chuckled. Katara shared in his laughs, just because.

"Hey, you dated her," Katara reminded him.

"True," Zuko was smiling at the small yellow flower in his fingers. He was gingerly holding it, afraid to ruin or crush it, which was easy to do with such a small, fragile flower.

"So then you don't _really _know what you're looking for in a girl," she stated, now also gazing at the little flower.

"Yes I do," he reported back. "Someone close and confident. Someone who's comfortable in the most ratty clothes, and humble in the best. A girl who can hold her own ground and is stubborn in her ways and ideas of life. Someone kind and beautiful."

Zuko's word slipped into Katara ears like poetry. She felt her heart morph into a butterfly and flutter rapidly along with the others eating away at her stomach.

"Like?" she asked, lying down on her stomach next to Zuko.

Zuko sighed and played with the flower a little longer before he rolled over onto his stomach too and ran his fingers through her soft, thick hair. She blushed a deep pink as he curled her hair behind her ear and locked it in place with the yellow flower.

"Someone like you," he blushed deeply back.

"Oh," Katara peeped. She tried with all her might not to let a wide grin engulf her face and give away her excitement. "Thank you," she whispered.

Zuko looked perplexed. "For?"

"For giving me a chance," she looked up at Zuko. Her eyes were soft and shy and her cheeks were blushed with pink. Zuko's eyes read surprise and his cheeks were redder than hers were.

"You're welcome," he squeaked back, barely even getting that out.

Katara looked over at him, tracing each line and figure on his face. She tried counting each strand of hair, but gave up after counting forty-seven of them. She watched him play with his fingers, the blush in his cheeks permanently painted onto his face.

"Zuko," she whispered. She watched his hair blow in the chilly wind chasing through and swirling the trees and their leaves. She loved that sound the most, the whistle of the wind.

Zuko slowly turned his neck over towards Katara and before he even got to open his mouth to speak, she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

'_I always thought only my mouth was honest; my thoughts and my actions weren't.' _Katara thought to herself. She leaned away from Zuko with her whole face pink; his was red. "I'm sorry," she choked. Zuko shook his head.

"Don't be," Zuko delicately grabbed her chin and brought her face back to his and kissed her on the lips.

'_I was wrong.' _

Katara wrapped her hand around Zuko's hair and spun it around her thin fingers as Zuko nibbled on her upper lip. Katara let out a small gasp and she kissed him one last time before a sudden, haphazard rainfall broke them apart.

The rain was cold and hardening as it fell. The rain drops quickly evaporated as they hit Zuko's hot skin. Katara let out a wide smile when Zuko looked away and she bit her lip to conceal a giddy squeal rising in her throat.

With her lip still bit, she tried tasting Zuko's lips on hers, but her imagination could only fly so far towards the real thing and it was bittersweet. She wanted them back; she wanted his lips back.

Katara water bended the rain drops away from the two of them and they both shifted onto their backs and laid back down, watching the sky as it cried big, gushing drops of rain water.

Neither said much while they watched Katara's hands bend the water away like a security blanket, but they were both carrying very unsatisfied smiles on their lips.

"We haven't eaten anything today," Zuko mentioned, his face still relaxed and flushed.

"You hungry?" she asked, her smile just as giddy as his.

"Nope," he replied. Katara let out a huffy chuckle and looked over at Zuko. She took one hand away from bending and slid it over Zuko's warm cheek.

"Is the Prince of sadness and 'I'm-never-happy' _actually _feeling good about himself today?" she joked. Zuko gingerly rolled her hand off of his face and entwined their fingers together.

"I'm happy," he remarked. "For now," he added.

"No, not for now, Zuko," Katara lectured, "you should always be happy! It's a good feeling isn't it?" she asked him with a certain amount of slyness filling her tone of voice.

Zuko laughed softly. "A little bit," he admitted.

Katara watched him for a few more moments and let out a small chuckle. "I know this sounds lame," she began, "but you're beautiful when you smile."

Zuko smiled wider. "You're not so bad yourself, Katara," he joshed. Katara punched him in the arm playfully.

"Shut up," she smiled widely.

Katara tried her hardest to keep the cold, heavy rain from hitting her and Zuko, but her mind was engulfed in filling thoughts of Zuko and she would've preferred to sit and look at Zuko all day rather than have her arm up in the air bending water away.

Every now and then a big raindrop would fall through her light blanket barrier and gush onto one of them. Each time one hit Zuko he would flicker his fingers with fire and would watch the big drop of water vaporize into steam.

"Where do you think the others are?" Zuko asked Katara, gently rubbing his thumb against her hand, but then soon after letting it go, letting her other arm take a break from bending.

"Hopefully," Katara sighed, "somewhere safe and dry."

Zuko breathed deeply. "I wish I was there with them."

Katara grinned. "I don't."

Katara breathed impatiently. "My arms are getting stiff," she complained.

"You don't have to bend, you know," Zuko told her.

"We'd get wet," Katara said, pulling her arms down. The cold rain water shot onto their clothes and skin and felt sticky. "See?"

"We'd dry off," Zuko placed one hand on her arm and her arm became instantly warm and vibrated her whole body. He was fire bending, and it didn't hurt. The rain drops on her skin melted away, only to be replaced by new, colder ones. "For the most part," he added, noticing the loophole in his scheme.

Katara stood up and instantly slipped on the wet, polished grass and she giggled, regaining her composure. She outstretched her arm and Zuko took her hand and stood up. She didn't let go, but instead ran towards a big tree with large, dense leaves and branches that covered the ground. The grass was dry there and Katara sat back down, leaning against the trunk of the tree. She patted on the earth next to her, motioning Zuko to sit down. Instead, he stepped onto a sagging branch and lifted himself onto another larger branch of the tree trunk.

"Smooth," Katara called up, five feet away on the ground. He showed her a crafty grin and let his feet hang down in front of Katara. She playfully grabbed them as if she were going to pull him down from the tree. He suspiciously pulled his feet up and hugged his legs in a joking way. Katara laughed.

"Again, smooth," she laughed.

"What time do you think it is?" Zuko asked her, striking a conversation.

"Late afternoon, maybe?" she replied.

"So what do you feel like doing now as we wait for the skies to clear up?" Zuko questioned.

She sighed in a tricky way. "Quite honestly I'm in the mood to ask you a few questions, Zuko," she told him. Zuko let out a soft groan that he doubt she heard.

"Fine," he retorted. "You get three."

"Five."

"Four."

"Sixteen," she prodded.

"Why sixteen?" he asked her.

"One for each year of your life," she explained.

Zuko weighed the decision. "You get five." Katara rolled her eyes and groaned. "What? You didn't expect me to okay you on asking me sixteen random questions? That could ruin me and my mysterious background life!" he chortled.

"Fine." She ignored his comment. "Question number one," she tapped her finger against her chin in thought. "If you were born into a different nation and could bend that element, which one would you choose?"

Zuko thought about it for a moment. "I wouldn't."

"You have to pick one," she insisted.

"If I had it my way, I wouldn't bend at all. So it really wouldn't matter if I were born into any other nation," he told her.

"Why don't you want to bend?" she asked. "And this is part of question number one," she added, knowing he'd be watching for loopholes.

"It's not that I don't want to bend," he said, "but all of them can be used as weapons against an enemy. If everyone in the world used their bending abilities as just normal tools in everyday life, it wouldn't be so bad. But until that happens, I'm not into them very much. It makes me feel like I'm cheating my way through life. Especially when I'm up against someone who can't bend."

"Like Sokka," Katara muttered. She blinked a few times, then carried on with her next question. "Question number two: who do you like better, your father or your sister."

Zuko laughed. "Neither!" he chuckled a few more times and then became serious again. "But I hate my father more than I hate her. If it weren't for him, she could be a totally different type of person and not an evil, insane maniac."

"Good point," Katara applauded. "Question number three: What do you miss most about your childhood?"

Zuko frowned. "Skip."

Katara, who normally would've made him answer each question, cut him slack, considering the question she interrogated him with.

"Question four," she went on, "Why do you carry your uncle's white lotus in your pocket?"

Zuko smiled as he though back to life on the ship when he was searching for Aang so he could capture him. "Uncle would always play Pai Sho and always told me how important it was in the game. I never listened. It just reminds me of uncle and how much he's helped me grow up."

Katara nodded at his deep response. "Last question," she told him, "Who do you love most that is still currently in your life?"

Zuko cleared his throat. "My mother," he said, "I haven't seen her in years," he paused, "but she's still with me."

"Good answer," Katara pepped with a smile, she thought about her mother and gripped tightly to her necklace, letting tears swell up in her eyes.

"Who do you love most that is still currently in your life?" Zuko asked her.

Katara stopped smiling, but a frown didn't replace it. She sat still and looked at the dirt in front of her as she though thoroughly about everyone in her life.

"My brother," she began. She opened her mouth to speak, but words didn't come out. Her eyes got wide and it felt like her stomach was being ripped in two and her lungs stabbed until they deflated. "Oh my…" she trailed off in a murmur.

"Katara?" Zuko looked down in worry. "Anything wrong?"

'_Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!' _she thought. "No," she spoke. Her eyes got wider.

She lied.

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*cough* well things just got slightly more twisted and interesting, yes?

Didn't mean any Mai bashing...I like Mai.

P.S- **TOKKA FANS **... go check out my new one shot(:

Review if you wanna know what happens next...(: (you _definitely _do!)


	8. Back Around

Read, enjoy, review.

Chapter Eight: Back Around

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"Katara?" Zuko asked her again. He hopped off of his tree trunk and met her on the ground. She was shivering in an uncomfortable way. Zuko rested his arms neatly on her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

'_EVERYTHING!' _she thought to herself, screaming in her head so loud it hurt her ears.

"Nothing," she lied again. "Oh my gosh," she murmured to herself.

"What was that?" Zuko asked, very perplexed. Katara's chin quivered. She threw Zuko's hands off of her shoulder and pushed him back, running away into the woods.

"Katara!" she heard him call to her. Tears began spilling out of her eyes and she didn't understand why she was crying, but she just let them file out anyway.

After a few minutes of running, navigating her feet through thickets and patches of slippery, wet leaves and erected roots, Katara slipped on a slick patch of moss, collapsing to her side, still sobbing.

'_Why did I lie to him?! Can he lie, too?' _Katara choked out one last sob before regaining her composure, still heavily wheezing. Katara let about an hour go by, huddled up under a tree, thinking and every now and then crying a little more before deciding what she needed to do.

"The fortune teller must know what's happening," Katara said aloud. She stood up tonically and began walking towards the market.

To the fortune teller's house.

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Aang and Toph had agreed to land Appa for the night so they could get some rest for a few hours, then go back for Zuko and Katara. Even more important, to get some help for the still unconscious Sokka.

"He's waking up!" Toph cheered to Aang, who was watching Sokka so tentatively he began to zone out. Aang popped out of his thoughts as Sokka's eyelids fluttered a few times then fully opened.

"Sokka," Aang spoke. Sokka groaned and rubbed his taped up forehead.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting up. Toph grabbed his neck and hugged him tightly.

"You almost died!" she exclaimed, unusually excited today.

"What?" Sokka pulled her away. "I almost_ died_?"

"No," Aang reassured him, "but you took a boulder in the head so Toph wouldn't," he informed him, trying to help Sokka recapture the memory. Sokka softly grumbled in reply.

"You might not have died then," a shady, feminine voice called. Aang, Toph and Sokka looked up, watching Azula edge towards the three. "But it is possible you could today."

A stream of lightning burst out towards them.

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Katara knocked slightly onto the door. She heard tea cups softly clanking inside, and then footsteps nearing the door. Finally it opened to that old woman's face once more. Katara breathed deeply in anticipation. She had remembered to bring some water in case she was not welcome and forced into battle.

"Good evening," Katara remarked politely. The fortune teller had a frown and furrowed brow, and clearly remembered Katara.

"Hello," she said flatly.

"May I come in?" Katara asked, still trying to keep her politeness, "I need to talk to you." The fortune teller hesitantly stepped aside and motioned Katara inside her home. She shut the door quietly behind her.

The home was exactly as Katara remembered it. There were two tea cups out on the tea table. The fortune teller sat on one side, and signaled Katara to the other seat.

"Tea?" the fortune teller asked. Katara nodded and held her tea cup up.

There was a testy, tense air flowing throughout the home, one that Katara assumed came in along with her.

"I need to ask you something," Katara began, sipping her tea.

"What is it?" the fortune teller asked in a monotone, clearly not in the mood for any beating around the bush.

"I'm lying."

Her eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?"

"Why am I lying?" Katara asked, brushing off the old woman's question.

"The spell wore off," the fortune teller stood up and got some more of an odd yeast-y looking pastry. She silently offered some to Katara, who kindly declined.

"Why did the spell wear off?" Katara asked her, "it hasn't been a week yet,"

"A week?" the fortune teller took a generous sip out of her tea cup, "who told you the spell wore off in a week?"

Katara sat across from her with a dumbfounded expression. "Y-your spell book said it would wear off within a week," she explained with a stutter.

For a moment, the fortune teller was silent and emotionless. She took in what Katara had told her, and responded with a boom of laughter.

"What's so funny?" Katara insisted.

The fortune teller laughed some more and wiped the joyful tears from her eyes. She sighed happily before speaking. "That book is older than I am."

That seemed hardly realistic to Katara.

"That is the oldest version of the spell. I use a more updated version that I would not be stupid enough to leave in a room with you and that fire nation boy," she explicated.

"So then how does the spell wear off? I just lied to him about an hour ago," Katara interrogated.

The fortune teller smiled. "How did you lie?"

Katara began blushing. "He asked me who I loved most in my life and I told him my brother, Sokka," she replied.

"And that was a lie?" the fortune teller asked back.

"No, I really do love my brother," she defended, "but I think I love Zuko most."

The fortune teller began to chuckle some more. "Does this Zuko boy know you love him most?" she asked. Katara bit her lip and though back to admitting to everyone that she had a crush on him.

"Yes, I accidentally screamed it to him in front of all our friends," she admitted shyly, her cheeks flushing.

The old woman nodded. "You admitted your deepest, darkest secret under the honesty curse. That is why you can now tell the truth."

Katara looked up, confused. "Come again?"

"The honesty curse I put on you and your fire bending friend lasts until you admit your deepest, darkest secret to someone. You told everyone you loved him, and because you got it off your chest, something you would have taken to the grave with you if you were able to, the honesty curse was lifted off from you," she answered.

"So Zuko still has to tell the truth?" Katara pondered aloud.

"Yes. He will have to speak honesty until he admits his most locked up secret that only he knows about. I've cursed people years ago that still are speaking the truth. He could live with that curse forever unless he admits his secret to someone."

"Oh," Katara whispered, thinking about Zuko's lips and wanted to ever so badly kiss them. "Alright," she added. Katara robotically stood up and headed towards the door. "Thank you," she bowed to the fortune teller in respect and then left quickly.

Katara sighed, her hand still glued to the fortune tellers door. She closed her eyes in remorse and walked back into the fortune tellers home.

"Please curse me again," she asked softly.

The fortune teller sipped the last of her tea and stood up and walked towards Katara.

"Very noble," she stated in her normal, crackly voice, "But why would you ask me to curse you again?" she asked, interested in her response.

Katara's eyes watered again. "I was crying on the way here, when I realized I could lie," Katara started, "and I couldn't understand why I was so sad."

"And now you know?" the woman asked. Katara nodded with a sniffle.

"Being honest felt…well, honest!" she expressed. "It felt nice and I was just beginning to be honest with myself and I liked it and--"

The fortune teller placed her hand gently on Katara's shoulder in a warm way. At first Katara's arm instinctively jet back towards her water pouch, but when she realized she wasn't going to be attacked, she let her arm hang down again.

"The downside to my curse is only your tongue is honest; your body and mind are not," said the fortune teller.

"I know," Katara replied, "and I was just beginning to become honest with my mind and body," she said, still thinking about Zuko's lips.

"You do not need to be cursed with honesty to be honest," she reminded Katara.

"What?" Katara whispered, confused by her response.

"Nobody makes you lie but yourself and your fear of being wrongly judged, correct?" the fortune teller tested her.

"I guess so," Katara retorted.

"Then you can still be honest with others without being cursed," she told Katara. "Once the spell is cancelled out, it cannot be used again on that being."

"Because they already told the truth to everyone," Katara finished the train of thought for the fortune teller.

"Not just everyone else, but themselves, too," she added brightly. Katara looked up, once again puzzled by her words. "You thought it was okay to tell a white lie every once in a while, yes?" Katara nodded. "Now you know better. You taught yourself that, not me or my curse."

"I guess I did," Katara congratulated herself with a weak smile.

"Go forth and prosper with honesty," the fortune teller bid her farewell as Katara walked back out the door and left her premises.

"Alright," Katara sighed, feeling the weight of the world fall off her shoulders, "now time to go tell Zuko."

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Yes, this chapter was fairly short compared to my others, but it was IMPORTANT.

I'm updating quicker because I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THESE LAST FEW CHAPTERS!

Zuko and Katara reuniting? Aang, Toph and Sokka versus Azula? (:

I can't wait! Lol…wow, I'm the author and I can't even wait! Haha...

**P.S- I HAVE A QUESTION I'D LIKE ALL MY REVIEWERS TO ANSWER PLEASE!!! **

_**--if I were to write another Zutara story, would ya'll read it?--**_

Please answer, and PLEASE review! Let's get my review counter up to _100_? (:

Thanks!


	9. Stranded

Hey, ya'll…well, as I'm wrapping up my first fan fiction story ever (there's 11 chapters total), I'll be updating a little quicker, so expect my updates within four days of each others, although that's just a rough guess.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed and pushed me over the 105 mark! (: Love you guys. This chapter is dedicated to all of my faithful reviewers! (:

Chapter Nine: Stranded

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Toph and Aang each grabbed one of Sokka's arms and leaped away from the lightning blast. Sokka fell to the ground as Aang readied his glider and Toph kicked up a few rocks.

Sokka sucked up the drying drool from his lip. His bandaged forehead was pounding as if his entire brain was vibrating. To make it worse, he was forgetting how to put together sentences and was seeing double-vision.

"My head hurts," he stated dumbly.

"Good. You're in no position to fight, anyway," Toph said, her feet slowly shifting around to get a better feel of where Azula was.

A devilish smile crept onto Azula's pretty red lips and her two lethal fingers shot another strip of lightning at the gang. Aang and Toph leapt in different directions and the lightning fly right over Sokka's head, who was still sprawled on the ground.

"Hey!" Sokka slurred, "That's not nice!" Sokka idly punched a fist up in the air as a battle cry and reach over his head and swung his boomerang out, throwing it at where he thought Azula was standing, although the other three Azula's he was seeing were feet away from his terrible aim.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Aang hushed a whisper at him, his fists clutched onto his glider.

"Fighting," Sokka said in an obvious fashion, "I hit her, didn't I?" Sokka blinked slowly, trying to figure out which of the four Azula's was the accurate one.

"No," Toph and Aang replied in unison.

"Not even close," Toph added. She swung her arms around and flew a boulder at Azula, who stealthily kicked her foot up and lashed a swipe of blue fire out that broke through the rock and sent the spike shards into the ground.

"Nice try," Azula prepared her lightning strike, "but not good enough."

Toph thrusted the ground under her up and the lightning smashed through her man-made mountain and left a smoky hole in the middle. Toph jumped off, sending another rock her way. Aang swooped his glider down under it, giving it more air. Azula craftily jumped of it and sent a blast of lightning at each bender.

"Hey!" Sokka screeched, "my boomerang!" He watched helplessly as the four Azula's all leapt up into the air and caught it, throwing some fire at Sokka on her way down.

"Sokka!" Aang sent a wind towards Sokka and he flew up into the air and landed on his back next to Toph's feet. He scrambled onto his limp feet and tossed two lax fists up in front of his dazed face. Azula twirled the boomerang around on her finger in a snarky manner before neatly tucking it under her golden belt.

"Come and get it," she challenged with an evil grin.

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Katara breathed in the sharp, cold air as she rushed through the woods, fog weighing down on her. She knew it was about to rain any moment, but she wanted to at least get to Zuko first. The air was heated on her skin, but felt like ice to her hot lungs, making it difficult to run. Still, she ran as fast as she could a didn't take a break.

"Zuko!" Katara hedged out of the forest back onto the small plain with the river. Zuko was placed under the tree, just as Katara had left him. "Zuko!" she smiled, running over to him.

Zuko had his head down, slouching his arm on his erected knee and intently gazing at the dirt under him.

"Zuko," she said again, thinking he hadn't heard her before since he hadn't looked up.

"I heard you the first time," he said robotically. He still didn't look up.

Katara knelt down next to him. "What's wrong?" she asked him in a concerned voice.

"You tell me," he replied in a monotone.

"Nothing, actually," she responded, not catching the sarcasm, "in fact, I have something really important to tell you--"

"No, wait-" he looked up, "let me tell _you_." His jaw was tense and tightened and his mouth was in a permanent frowning position, yet his brow was smooth and not furrowed.

"Are you angry?" she asked, almost in a tone of disbelief.

Zuko snorted and stood up, walking away from her. He whipped around on his heel, mad. "Am I _angry?"_ his voice was pasted with tension and strain. "You ditched me in the middle of our deep conversation…_again_," he began. "So, no. I'm not angry." He tapped his foot.

'_Well, since he's still under the honest curse, he must really not be mad,' _Katara thought, buying into his speech. "So then what's wrong?" she called to him.

"I'm not angry," he repeated. His hand lit up with fire and he whipped it in front of his chest. "I'm furious!"

Katara instinctively leapt up and drew out her water, preparing for battle as Zuko's arms were enveloped with fire.

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"Sokka," Toph whispered to him from the small corner of her mouth, "don't challenge her, she's too strong for you…even on one of your good days."

Azula's eyes etched from Aang to Toph and Sokka, then back again, calculating who would strike first. Her fingers were in a claw form and her stance was strong and defensive, definately an elite fighting position of the Fire Nation.

Sokka's brow was tightly knit and his face was painted with the sort of frustration Aang, Toph and Azula all theoretically agreed on that Sokka wasn't exactly sure why he had.

"Give me back my boomerang," he began, his voice still sticky and slow.

"Come and get it," she teased, "if you're such a big, strong warrior, then getting a boomerang from such a small girl shouldn't be a problem for you, should it?"

'_Great, she's playing the weakness card,' _Aang swallowed, _'she always knows which pressure point to hit with people.'_

"I am a good warrior!" Sokka protested strongly.

Azula lightly chuckled in a mocking way. "Prove it."

Sokka's eyes fluttered, trying to navigate through the four Azula's. Sokka gave up trying to figure out which one was the real one, and instead and charged head first at them all.

Azula crouched in preparation.

"This is going to be good."

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"I can't believe you're mad at me for going into town for a little while," Katara told him, refusing to let her guard down until she knew for sure Zuko's was down.

Zuko scoffed. "Don't make it out like you're all high and mighty! You started crying, pushed me away then ran into the forest! What the hell was I supposed to think, it's not like you told me anything helpful!" he paused, "You didn't tell me anything!"

"_I'm _high and mighty?" Katara yelled back. "Please! You're the most arrogant of the group!"

"I'd rather be arrogant than a goody-two-shoes! You think you're perfect when in reality, you're the worst bender of the group!"

"That's not true!" Katara defended loudly.

"Oh yes it is," Zuko reported, "I can't lie, remember?"

Katara swallowed hard, forgetting about telling him he had to admit his darkest secret to break the curse. '_Well I'm definitely not going to help this hot-headed jerk now!' _she thought.

"Well," she continued, "not only are you arrogant, but you're also the most insecure person I've ever met! You try and please everyone just so you can sway everyone to liking you! It's like you're not even upfront or honest about yourself!"

Zuko sneered. "_I'm_ not honest? You're acting like you aren't even affected by this curse!"

Zuko's arms were swallowed by flames, Katara's by water. The fog was claustrophobic and tightening on Zuko and Katara's throats, but neither backed down.

Now or never.

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"Stay still!" Sokka punched the air at one Azula, but his hand slipped through her stomach. He let out a loud holler and tried attacking another one.

"I'm over here," Azula taunted, swirling around Sokka as he kicked and punched the air.

Toph launched herself but Aang sprinted over to her and held her back. "Sokka is right in front of her!" Aang reminded her.

"Yeah but he's delirious and needs to go back to bed and wake up again! He's hopeless and useless against Azula!" Toph argued.

"I know, it's like working with a blind person but--" Toph punched him in the arm. "Sorry, I forgot," he squeaked out, rubbing his bruised arm.

"We need to do something," Toph had her fists up, armed to fight and ever so tempted to get in on the action.

"I'm afraid to hit Sokka, though," Aang admitted.

She scoffed. "I'm not!" Toph kicked up another boulder and lashed it Azula's way. Sokka caught a glint of the rock from the corner of his eye. In slow motion, it raced towards him. Sokka yelped and grabbed onto Azula's shoulder clumsily.

"Hey!" Azula snatched his wrist and flung him to the ground, bouncing out of the boulder's way and watching it hit the tree behind her.

"Got'cha!" Sokka twisted around ungracefully and clutched onto Azula's shoulder again, putting his entire weight on her. Azula stumbled backwards but kept her composure and stopped herself before tumbling to the ground like Sokka had.

Sokka sat up, staring vacuously at Azula's snazzy warrior boots.

"Got it!" Sokka unpredictably grabbed hold of Azula's belt, his finger getting caught between the buckle and her waist. "Give it!" he was fighting with himself as Azula's hand lit up with fire.

"Don't touch him!" Aang shrieked. He swung his glider over his head, dropping it and sent a blast of wind from the palm of his hand. Azula slyly jumped from her location, strongly grasping onto Sokka's arm and taking him with her.

"What are you doing?" Toph called meanly to her, not understand why she had saved Sokka.

Toph kicked up some more rocks and Aang's fists were up. Azula swung Sokka around in front of her, her arm strapped around his neck loosely with two lethal fingers pricking his neck.

"Don't move," she ordered them, her voice falling into her usual calm, mechanical, sultry tone. Toph and Aang stopped dead in their tracks. Aang's arms fell to his sides and the rocks Toph was levitating fell back to the earth.

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"This is ridiculous, Zuko," Katara told him through the fog. The thick, gray air was beginning to get too heavy for the rain to hold.

"You're always leaving!" he said, working himself up even farther.

"You think everyone is always leaving you!" Katara yelled back. She watched Zuko's figured hesitate then shrink back slightly. "oh," she whispered. She had hit below the belt, and she knew it. She had already said he was insecure, and yet she thought bringing up the fact everyone 'leaves' him was a good idea.

"Zuko…" she trailed off. She directed her water back into her pouch and retreated from her fighting stance. "Zuko, I'm sorry," she explained, pleading for his forgiveness.

"No," he stopped her, "you're right, I do think everyone is leaving me," he paused and sighed, his arms swinging by his side in a defeatist motion. "even now." He looked up.

"What--"

Zuko growled and swung his feet around, jumping into the air. He threw his body around in mid-air and gave a shot of fire out of his foot as he did a strong roundhouse kick in Katara's direction.

Katara gasped in shock he'd attack and slipped the water rapidly out of her pouch and sloshed it out towards the flames. She missed by inches and the fire sparked onto the grass and the flames grew higher and higher acting as a barrier between Zuko and Katara. The air was stuffy and flames were decieving. The air reminded Katara of Zuko, and the flames reminded Zuko of Katara.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, her voice unseemingly content and surprised.

"I figured you were going to leave me anyway," he breathed, "why not let you leave with a bang, I thought," he said, not regretting his actions in anyway.

"No-- Zuko…" she stumbled, "I-I shouldn't have said that to you. I'm sorry! Honest!"

Zuko let out a weak, maniacal chuckle and rolled his neck around.

"No-- you aren't."

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"If you try to attack me," Azula dragged Sokka backwards towards the forest, "I will attack your friend here before your earth or air bending even get close to me." Her steps were airy, but stern and Toph was loosing slight focus and if it weren't for Sokka lying halfway on the earth, Azula's place would be fuzzy and pure static to her.

"Alright!" Aang backed down, "we won't attack you!"

"Now give us back Sokka!" Toph added. Azula's permeating footsteps triggered Toph's foot and she accidentally shifted it farther in front of her.

"Watch it," Azula warned, her calming voice demeaning Toph piece by piece. Her fingers sparked blue a few times and Sokka whimpered, watching the two fingers closely from the corner of his eye.

Azula shrunk back into the forest, taking Sokka with her.

"No," Aang lurched forward but was stopped by Toph's outstretched arm.

"Don't do it, Aang," she told him. "or Sokka will get even more hurt."

"You'll just let her take him, too?" Aang asked her in disbelief.

"He could die if we don't!"

"He'll die if we do!" Aang protested. "First Zuko and Katara, now Sokka! You're letting enemies pick us off one by one! Me next?"

"Listen!" Toph shook him, "we need to go find Zuko and Katara are come back to defeat Azula. We can't do it alone and we can't do it now, either. I'm not being a jerk, I'm being reasonable. Stop thinking with your feelings and start thinking like Azula!"

"I don't _ever_ want to think like Azula and-- wait!" He watched Toph walk away towards Appa. "Where are you going?" he asked.

Toph climbed aboard Appa and motioned Aang to join her.

"We're going to get Zuko and Katara."

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…heavy stuff, huh? (: Hope you liked.

I'm new to fighting scenes, so sorry if this chapter sucked.

I know, I know…Zuko and Katara are both very up and down in this story, but I feel they can both be stubborn and hot-headed and I would perceive their relationship to be very up and down, too…that's why I'm doing my story like this [if you were wondering…].

One thing every reader should know about me: I ADORE Sokka and Azula together…I know-- I'm weird. No, this story isn't Sozula because I know I'm pretty much the only one on this planet that likes them together so, again, I'll say that this story…PURE ZUTARA.

Zuko felt very beat up and stranded, I feel…that was the emotion I was going for.

Anyway, please review!

(THANKS FOR OVER ONE HUNDRED SO FAR!!!)

--review!--


	10. Cursed

Hey you guys! This story is winding down…second to last chapter here…personally…it's my **FAVORITE** chapter to date. (: Hope ya'll feel the same way!

Chapter Ten: Cursed

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"I found them!" Aang announced to Toph, sailing through the air on top of Appa. Aang carefully steered Appa down to the patch in the woods. He saw a streak of dying fire between the two as he maneuvered Appa to a halt.

"You guys!" Aang called, hopping off of Appa, Toph right behind him.

The dark sky had retrieved its blanket of fog and heavy rain drops came crying down from the sky, along with the loud claps of thunder and sparks of lightning. Everyone was drenched two minutes into the rain storm. Aang's clothes suctioned onto his skin, itching away.

"Why do I smell fire?" Toph asked dryly.

"Were you two fighting?" Aang interrogated with disbelief, gazing at the fire burning the grass and sweeping around Zuko's hands.

Zuko's hands immediately stopped flaming and he and Katara shared panicked expressions, bothing trying to cook up a feasable alibi for Aang and Toph.

"Oh no, of course not!" Katara bit the inside of her cheek in thought, "you see, there was a bug…Zuko killed it with fire bending!" Katara smiled in a satisfactory way at her 'good' lie.

Zuko took a step towards her, still carrying some hurt feelings. "Did you just _lie_?"

Katara gulped. _'Whoops,' _she felt her throat close up. "No," she peeped.

"Yes you did!" Zuko protested. "You lied!"

"So then you guys _did _fight?" Toph asked, her and Aang both incredibly quizzical.

"Zuko, I can explain--"

"You don't have to!" Zuko curtailed. "You've been able to lie this entire time and you weren't even going to tell me!"

"That's not true! I was about to tell you but then you threw fire between us!"

"Wait!" Aang cut in. "What's all this talk about lying?" Katara licked his lips, knowing that since Zuko was still under the honesty curse, he would be apt to explain.

"Katara and I were cursed by a fortune teller to tell the truth for an entire week, but it's only been four days!" Zuko said. He groaned, remembering his and Katara's pact to keep it a secret. "Damn," he muttered to himself.

"You were cursed?" Toph asked.

"And you weren't even going to tell us?" Aang added.

"It wears off in a week so her and I were just going to get through this week and pretend it never happened," Zuko said, calming down.

"But when I ran off," Katara turned to Zuko, the fire between them competely burned out by the rain, "I had realized I _could _lie so when I ran away from you I had gone to ask the fortune teller what's going on and--"

"You went back to a person who cursed you?" Aang asked skeptically, not seeing the logic in that. Katara put her hand up in his direction.

"Quiet, Aang," she ordered, not taking her eyes off Zuko, "she told me when you admit your deepest secret, the curse wears off," she looked down, trying to hide her blush, "when I told everyone I liked you, the curse wore off me."

Zuko's fiery hands melted away, and his fists unclenched. Katara slowly swayed over towards him and leapt into his arms.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," she whispered into his ear. She felt Zuko's strong arms wrap around her waist and his chin gingerly rested on her shoulder. She felt his warm chest against hers and listened to his heart beat. She gently kissed his neck before pulling away.

"That's great," Toph got back to the subject, "but we have a problem."

Zuko looked around. "You're right; where's Sokka?"

"Azula has him."

"What?!" Katara and Zuko shared.

Katara gave Aang a slight push back, frustration drilling her hands. "Why didn't you stop her? That's my brother!"

"She had him in a headlock and two fingers to his neck! She said she would electrocute him unless we stop attacking and bending. Then she left with him!"

"She could kill him!" Katara screamed. "You let her take him!"

"Katara," Aang used his comforting voice, "there was nothing we could do. We're all upset. Toph and I came to get you guys so we can all go fight Azula together and rescue Sokka."

"No," Katara said stubbornly, "I'm doing this myself."

"What?" Aang asked, "that's not a very good idea."

"Yes it is," Katara protested, "he's my brother and this is pay back."

Aang rolled his eyes, "how many times do I need to point out that pay back is never a good policy?"

"So then how are we getting Sokka back without avenging, Aang?" Zuko pointed out. Aang thought about it for a while, then gave up. The rain was so heavily down pouring, it was hard for Aang to see and Katara and Zuko, even when they were feet away. Some more thunder drummed and more lightning crackled, lighting up the sky.

"I want to do this alone," Katara urged.

Zuko looked up at the lightning fire-working in the sky and rethought his position in this debate. "Actually, Katara," he began, "Azula may have the upper hand in this battle." He pointed to the lightning shooting down towards the trees, targeting the tallest one and seizing it. "Maybe that's not such a great idea."

"I don't care," Katara said mulishly. "I'm getting my brother back."

"What if you need help and we're not there to aid?" Zuko asked her.

"I don't need your help…I don't need any of your help." Katara strutted towards Appa, climbing aboard.

"Appa-- yip, yip!" She pulled tightly on his reigns as Appa slowly lifted off the ground, reluctant to fly in such bad conditions.

Zuko watched her fly up towards the sky and he felt his heart thump louder than ever.

"You okay, Zuko?" Toph asked, noticing his heart beat pick up.

Zuko ignored her, his eyes skittishly wavering up at Katara, the determined look on her face. He saw the lightning above her, thinking of Azula's attack plan, thinking he already knew the worst outcome possible.

"Katara!" He shouted. He punched a flame up in the air as a flare signaling her back down. Katara looked down at Zuko and channeled Appa down. Zuko raced towards her.

"Katara!" He cried again. Katara hopped off Appa and into Zuko's strong arms.

"What's the matter?" She asked, puzzled.

"I told you: everyone who loves me always leaves!" He let her go. "This isn't fair."

"Zuko," she smiled, "I'm coming back. I promise." Zuko returned a weak smile and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Katara tucked her fingers into his hair and brought his lips to hers.

"I'm going now," she told him strongly as Zuko subtly grasped onto her hand.

"Alright," Zuko nodded but as Katara turned to leave, his fingers were still intertwined with hers, thrusting her back towards him.

"Zuko," she comforted. "I'm coming back," she assured him. "I won't leave you."

"Azula is strong," he said promptly.

"I am too, you know," she reminded him.

"I know," he sighed, still visibly worried. Katara looked back at Toph and Aang. Toph's clothes were wet and soggy and her hair stuck to her face, covering her eyes. Aang's clothes were the same but his eyes read with lament. Katara wanted so badly to feel guilty and upset for liking Zuko, knowing Aang adored her…she couldn't, though. Loving Zuko felt too nice to be remorseful about it.

"I can beat her, Zuko," Katara told him, turning her attention back to him. "I know I can."

"I know you can, too but--"

"But nothing," Katara pried her fingers from his. "You have to let go and trust me." Zuko clung his hand back onto hers like a magnet.

"I do trust you," he whispered.

"Then let me go," she told him. Zuko looked down for a long time and with one last sigh of submission, Katara felt his wet fingers slowly fall from hers. As Katara walked back to Appa, Zuko didn't dare look up.

"Yip, yip!" Katara waved to Aang, who gave a frail wave back.

Appa rose back into the thunderous, lightning-filled air. The sky was darker and the raindrops were becoming sleet. Zuko looked up.

"Katara, wait!" he called again. He sent no flare this time, trusting his voice would get to her. Katara peered over Appa's head and looked down at him.

"I love you!" He screamed. "I love you! I always have and I always will! When you asked me if I could ever learn to like you back I was able to keep it a secret still because I don't just like you, I adore you!"

Katara sat hovering in the air, unaware of any surroundings. The thunder and lightning, the rain stinging her skin, Aang, Toph…gone. To Katara's eyes, there was nothing but Zuko.

Zuko stood helplessly on the ground, being wind-beaten and showered with icy raindrops, but still immobile, gazing up at Katara, waiting for a response.

"Zuko!" She finally called back. Zuko's eyes looked farther up in alert as a response. "I love you too! Honest!" She smiled at her dodgy slip in the comment. Zuko smiled back, appreciating the honest comment, too. He waved.

"Kick her ass!" Katara laughed and waved back, pulling tightly on Appa's reigns and flying higher and farther away out of sight.

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Katara looked behind her shoulder at the giant thunder storm she was flying through. She looked up at the eye of the storm, planted exactly under it was Azula. Katara glowered as she landed Appa and took no time leaping off and hedging towards Azula.

"So this is who the Avatar sent to recapture his little friend?" Azula noted. "Interesting choice," she looked down lazily at her fingers, knowing if she acted bored and unaware of Katara's presence, Katara would soon get angrier.

She was right.

"Give me back Sokka," Katara demanded, not backing down. She wasn't scared of Azula. She just wasn't.

"You'll have to fight me for him," the two girls looked behind Azula at Sokka, passed out and leaning against a tree trunk. Katara thought back to her conversation with Zuko as they sat under--or in Zuko's case on-- a tree, watching the rain cloud pass by. This made her think of their first kiss, which made her think of Zuko announcing to their friends that he was in love with her. Her emotions were fueled into her veins.

"Trust me, Azula," she put her fists up, "this won't be much of a match."

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I think we all know that Katara just kicked Azula's ass and got Sokka back(: I wasn't planning on putting another fight in, so just know…Katara** DOMINATED**.

Review? (yes please!)


	11. Forever and Always Honest

_Forever and Always Honest_

The sky had cleared from a dark gray into a mixture of gold and deep blue. The thunder and lightning had moved away from their area and the rain was drizzling to a stop, slowly following the rest of the storm north. The sun was dropping down to the line of the horizon, and in the other direction the moon was beginning to take its place in the sky. Along with the moon came Katara.

"They're here!" Aang called to Toph, who was hiding for cover from the rain under a rocky canopy. Toph darted out from her cave and ran towards Zuko and Aang as Appa landed feet from them.

Sokka was unhesitant to leap down from the bison's back and then was immediately swarmed by Toph's welcoming hug.

"Sokka!" she cheered excitedly. Sokka gave her a quick hug back before Toph could embarrassedly pull away. Next to greet him was Aang.

Katara neatly fixed up and played with Appa's reigns, not realizing she was being waited for on the ground. While she was drowning out the rest of the world with a sweet smile and a happy hum, Zuko impatiently saddled onto Appa and crawled up towards Katara.

"Hey," he breathed seductively down her back. Katara gasped unexpectedly as her cheeks flushed a light pink.

"Hi," she turned to face him.

"How'd it go?" Zuko took no time in diving in with his flow of questions. Katara had her hands placed on her hips with a triumphant and unctuous crooked smile on her face and that was more than enough for Zuko to get the picture.

"Perfect," she replied smugly.

"Good job," he complimented with a nod.

"Thanks," Katara slid off the bison's head and sat down on the slimey, damp grass and Zuko followed her tutelage. "So," she whistled off with a trail, not knowing what to say to Zuko first; there was so much rumbling around in her brain from him to decipher and pick apart. "You can lie now?" she asked, twiddling her thumbs around in circles.

"No," Zuko said straightly.

"Liar!" Katara playfully jabbed his gut, remembering how many times she did that to him at the fortune teller's house. Zuko laughed.

Before their conversation could go on any farther, Sokka, Aang and Toph joined them and sat down. Momo flew into the middle of their circle and rolled around in the grass, wanting to be apart of their meeting.

"So, Sokka," Zuko began, leaning back lazily, "good to be back?"

"Definitely," Sokka exasperated.

"What happened to you when Azula took you away?" Aang asked curiously. Everyone chimed in, just as curious.

Sokka picked something out of teeth before beginning. "For a long time she was carrying me around, threatening to beat me if I moved or said anything back…which was fine with me, I wasn't in the mood to talk."

Toph sniffed. "_Sokka_ wasn't in the mood to talk?" She asked, amazing. Everyone laughed but Sokka.

"Ha, ha," he mumbled sarcastically. "After I realized I was being dragged around by Azula, I tried squirming and sneaking away, and she got mad so she threw me at a big tree and I hit my head on a branch and fell to the ground. The next thing I knew Katara was there fighting her."

"That's right," Katara chirruped. "And when I finally got Sokka onto Appa, I flew a little's way away from Azula and then healed his head," she paused, thinking, "wait-- what actually happened to your head, anyway?"

"I was busy being heroic," her brother replied simply, winking in Aang and Toph's direction. The two giggled to themselves. "So what happened to you and this one while everyone was gone?" he pointed to Zuko.

Katara and Zuko shared glances and, satisfied with not having to blurt out the truth anyway, kept quiet and waited for someone else to share or change the subject.

"Apparently for the past four days they've been cursed into not lying and the only way to get un-cursed it to tell your biggest secret and apparently their biggest secret is loving each other," Toph said, as if it were a completely normal explanation.

"Oh, that's cool-- WHAT?" Sokka whipped towards Katara. "You _love_ Zuko?" He screamed. He turned to Zuko. "You love my sister?"

Zuko wiped Sokka's spit off his cheek and cringed at the though of Sokka being that close to his face, praying it'd never happen again.

"Back off!" Zuko crossed his arms defiantly.

"Yeah, Sokka," Aang started. His voice had gotten lower and more serious and Zuko could smell the angst and sadness weighing down on Aang's shoulders. "No matter what you do or say you can't stop them from loving each other." His voice had a certain jealous and angry tone in it.

Catching on, Katara sighed in disheartenment. "Aang--" she began softly, finally beginning to feel sad and guilty.

Aang shook his head, "It's fine, really," he implored, standing up and walking away. His stormy exit had hard, loud footsteps that didn't belong to the Twinkle Toes Toph was used to hearing.

"What's with him?" she asked.

"I don't know," Zuko played dumb, "but I'll go find out." Zuko stood up and followed Aang.

"Hey," Zuko approached him.

"Hi." His legs were curled up to his chest and his chin was resting between his knees. Aang didn't seem too willing to talk at the moment.

"Listen, I understand why you're upset," Zuko began.

"No," Aang curtailed, "you don't."

"I do so; you like Katara and you're sad and upset-- maybe even a little angry-- she doesn't like you back the same way."

"Sure, rub it in," all emotion had been drained from his quiet voice.

"I'm not trying to," Zuko insisted, "I'm on your side."

"You don't know what it feels like," Aang told him, staring down at his feet.

"I want to, though."

"No you don't," Aang said, "it's a terrible, sick-to-your-stomach feeling and no one should ever have to go through this."

Zuko licked his lips. "You don't either."

"I can't _stop _liking Katara! I've been trying to do that since I met her and it hasn't worked yet and--"

"That's not what I meant," Zuko interrupted. Aang looked over at him. "You're my friend. You're Katara's friend," Aang cringed at the thought of being 'just friends', "and I don't want you to be sad. So if you don't want Katara and I to be together," he paused with a sigh, regretting what he said next before even speaking, "then we won't be."

Aang let Zuko's words seep into his skin before he realized what he had truly just said. Aang swallowed the dry lump in his throat and thought of Katara's shining, smiling face and a gentle smile smeared onto Aang's.

"Zuko," Aang said, "you _have _to be with her! I just want Katara to be happy and if she's happy with you then that's all that matters."

"No. If I'm with Katara then you'll be sad."

"No," Aang corrected, "I'll be sad if she's sad. You'll be sad if you're not with her. Toph and Sokka will have no one to laugh at their jokes then they'll be sad. Sad! Sad! Sad!" Aang stomped his foot down as if he were a young child having a temper tantrum.

Zuko arched his eyebrow at Aang. "I'm getting the feeling you _want_ Katara and I to be together?"

"Yes!" Aang shrieked, dramatically throwing his hands up in the air. "Of course you should be with her! Do you want to make everyone sad and upset for the rest of their lives! How could you be so selfish, you jerk!"

Zuko leaned away from the yelling Avatar. "Okay, okay," he mumbled, "just stop yelling!" Aang calmed down and gave Zuko his blessings with an approving, wide smile and thumbs up. Zuko humored him with a cheesy smile and weak thumbs up in return.

After a few more minutes of one-on-one guy talking, they agreed to agree on the subject and rejoin the rest of their friends.

The gang all sat around for a little while longer, catching up on their few days apart, laughing, joking, discussing the future of the group,and Aang's upcoming training sessions with Katara, Zuko and Toph. The sun swam along the edge of the horizon as the moon crept up from the other direction, putting the last few chirping birds to sleep for the night. The sky was golden and gray, making a striking sky. Sokka had taken Toph fishing for dinner and Aang tagged along to practice some water bending, leaving Zuko and Katara alone at last.

"So," Zuko slid his arm over her shoulder in a nonchalant manner, "Azula put up a good fight?"

"I guess so," Katara bit her lip. "Zuko, I--"

Zuko wasted no time in curbing her sentence, pressing his lips against hers passionately. Katara rolled the back of her hand onto Zuko's neck before grabbing it securely, squeezing his chest closer onto hers. Katara leaned back, Zuko on top.

"Katara," Zuko lifted hip lips from hers with a gasp. Katara's hand slithered over Zuko's cheek, rubbing it lighting, gradually slipping her fingers over his soft lips.

"Yes?" She whispered back.

Zuko reached for her hands and scooped them up into his.

"Katara," he began, "just because we aren't cursed anymore doesn't me we need to go back to being dishonest. Please always be honest with me," he pleaded.

"Of course I will," Katara soothed, her lips meeting Zuko's ear, "forever and always," she gently kissed his ear.

"Forever and always," Zuko repeated, trusting her words. "No secrets, no holding back."

Katara foxily chuckled. "Trust me, Zuko," she grabbed the cloth covering his shoulders and crushed her chest back against his, "I'll never hold back." Katara closed her eyes and smashed her lips against his, ruffling up his hair in the meantime.

Just then, a light footstep lightly crunched down on the grass next to Katara's ear and her eyes shot open quickly. She groaned lightly and shut her eyes again, the bight, yellow sun directly in front of her. She covered her eyes from the sun with her hand and blinked a few times with another soft grumble.

"Zuko?" she whispered in a mutter, dazed and confused, wondering why he wasn't still pressed against her.

Katara blinked again and licked her dry lips, striving for Zuko's. She looked around at the dry landscape and all her sleeping friends. Aang was curled up on Appa's tail, Sokka was snuggled deep beneath his thick blanket and sleeping bag, and Toph had her feet and head perched up on uncomfortable looking rocks. She figured that was normal behavior for an earth bender.

"Zuko?" she mumbled again, sitting up, her eyes frantically searching everywhere for him.

Zuko was drifting past Aang and Sokka and Appa and Momo. His footsteps were so light even Toph didn't wake up. He cautiously dipped his feet into the cool water of the creek and fish obsessively swam away from him.

'_What is he doing?' _Katara asked herself, silently sprouting up and approaching him, '_what's going on? Why is everyone sleeping but Zuko? Wasn't I just kissing him?'_

"Zuko?" She asked once more, standing feet from him. Zuko looked over at her, confused and surprised she was up so early. Normally, he was the only one awake at this hour. This was his alone time and he loved and needed it.

"What are you doing awake so early?" he asked her quickly, his voice an octave higher than usual.

"So early?" Katara repeated, "It was just night time. Zuko, what's going on?"

Zuko arched his eyebrow crossly. "What are you talking about, Katara?" he asked, just as puzzled as Katara looked. "Are you okay?"

Katara nodded slowly, her vision doubling for a moment or two before she blinked.

"It was just overcast and rainy. And we were all awake and spread out. I had just got back with Sokka from fighting Azula, remember?" she looked at Zuko like he was loosing his mind, but Zuko was positively sure it was her that was wrong.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream, Katara?" Zuko asked her.

Katara's throat closed up and she quickly dejected Zuko's suggestion, not bearing that possible fact of reality. She shook her head vigorously.

"You don't remember?" Katara asked him in awe, Zuko still quizzical and slightly worried about her mental state, "Azula had captured Sokka so I went to save him!"

Zuko scoffed and began to play along with her story. He lazily crossed his arms. "Oh really? Why weren't Toph, Aang and I there with you?"

"I said I wanted to do it alone," she looked into his shiny hazel eyes, "and you said you believed in me and that I didn't need any back up. That I could take her on myself," her voice got quieter and quieter as she talked.

"Katara, Azula never captured Sokka. He's fine, see?" Zuko pointed at her snoring brother, sprawled out under wool blankets and a pillow over half his face. "Everyone's fine."

"But--"

"But you," Zuko touched her hand and began dragging her back towards her sleeping bag, "I'm not so sure you're fine. Katara I think you need more sleep. You're talking crazy."

Katara huffed and snatched her arm away.

"I'm telling the truth!" Katara protested. Zuko put a finger to his lip, signaling her to be quiet so the others wouldn't wake up. "I'm telling the truth!" she whispered to him. "Don't you remember the honesty curse?"

"Honesty curse?" Zuko said flatly, not covering up his disbelief in Katara.

"You and I were cursed to be one hundred percent honest until we admitted our deepest darkest secrets!" Katara paused and thought about her shouting to their friends that she had a crush on Zuko, and Zuko screaming on the top of his lungs 'I love you' to her. "You don't remember?" she squeaked, tears beginning to poke at her eyes.

"I don't remember it because you dreamt it, Katara," Zuko's posture loosened up, his concern and confusion dying down quickly. Zuko went back to soaking his feet in the river. He fell back onto the bright green grass and shut his eyes, letting the sunlight spill onto his face.

Katara let a tear slip out from her eye.

"I dreamt it," she told herself, almost as a scold to her mind for playing such a dirty trick on her fantasies and her fragile heart. "I didn't happen." Katara fell to her side and angrily dug her fingers into the dirt letting the gritty ground fill up underneath her clean fingernails. She choked back a sob, Zuko kissing her repeatedly flashing in her mind over and over again. The more she thought of it the more she recognized the reality.

It was all in her head.

"Katara," she heard Zuko's sweet voice call her name. Katara stood up sparingly and managed to trudge over towards him, her knees weak and face tear stained. Every move she took was a big, fat, reminder of lying with Zuko in the rain, kissing. She felt mocked by her own day dreams. The closer she got to him, the more clearly she saw him playing with something small and delicate looking. He was twirling it around in his fingers tips, being very ginger and light with it. '_What is that?' _

A little yellow flower.

Katara sat down next to him, then fell onto her back. She looked over at the small piece of nature Zuko was stroking with his finger. "Pretty flower," she reported, eyeing at the flower identical to the one in her 'dream'. Katara was angry at herself for playing such a dirty trick on her heart.

"It's yellow," Zuko stated the obvious and Katara unsure why, "a primary color," he went on.

"Yeah," she played along, still unsure of why he was talking like this, "just like red and blue."

Zuko chuckled, leaning his arm against hers. Katara stared at the red cloth of his shirt meshing with the blue cloth of hers before she finally understood why he was saying such things. She smiled softly.

Zuko went back to looking at the delicate flower. "I think yellow goes a lot better with blue than it does red," Zuko sat up half way and curled Katara's hair behind her ear as she blushed the deepest pink she ever had before. He tucked the little yellow flower in her hair and sat back, admiring his work. "Perfect."

Katara blushed, "Thanks, Zuko," she mumbled under her breath, trying to hide her blush. From the corner of her eye she saw Zuko smile sweetly and she only blushed harder, but still smiled back.

"So you had a dream that you and I were cursed into honesty and that my sister kidnapped Sokka?" he asked, almost like he were laughing at the thought.

Each piece of the dream Zuko had missed rushed into Katara's mind. "Pretty much," she stated, smacking her lips together. As Zuko said it out loud, the more impossible and silly the entire situation sounded to Katara. She felt like an idiot. And even worse, the dream made her vulnerable to falling in love. She hated that right now. Now more than ever.

"So how did you and I get out of the honesty curse?"

Katara mashed her teeth down on her tongue. "I don't remember," she lied, feeling somewhat comforted by that lie.

"Oh," Zuko breathed, sounding slightly disappointed.

"I remember it felt nice to be honest, though," she went on, "to have someone I don't lie to or keep secrets from."

Zuko rested his head on his crossed arms. "I suppose it would," he said slowly, his eyelids sloping down.

'_Forever and always honest,' _Katara thought, '_he said it in the dream. Don't break a promise, Katara, even one in a dream.' _she told herself, the sillyness of the dream draining from her bones and the reality and feeling of the dream rebooting her system. In just one moment she went to feeling like an idiot and ashamed to feeling amazing and lovely. She was beginning to confuse herself.

"Forever and always," she whispered aloud. She turned to Zuko, who was enjoying the sunlight kissing his smooth face. "Forever and always!" She told him, exclaiming. Zuko opened his eyes and turned to her

"What was that?" he asked, puzzled.

"Forever and always," she huffed. "Forever and always honest."

Zuko became flushed pink. "I-I don't understand."

"I always want to be honest with you, Zuko," she confirmed, brushing her fingers against his "always honest."

"Okay," Zuko drifted off, a bit confused. "I've always been pretty honest with you so far," he said before rethinking his words, "well-- since I've joined your group, at least," he corrected himself, his mind reliving the past.

"Can I start now?" Katara asked, pulling him from his flashbacks. Her lungs and heart were drumming quick, short pounds in her chest. She felt her blood turn to sludge and her stomach was suffocated by butterflies.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Good." Katara looked down and inhaled a deep breath, preparing for embarrassment and anticipating a permanent painted blush on her cheeks.

"I want to tell you my deepest, darkest secret."

~_Finality~ _

_(Check out my brand new story on my profile page!)_


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